Kim Possible: Stranger In The Mirror
by LJ58
Summary: Kim wakes up after a mission to find herself in the most unlikely prison of all. How is she going to be able to escape this sitch, when it seems the U.S. Army is the one that is planning on holding her. One way, or another.
1. Chapter 1

_I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Stranger In The Mirror**

**By LJ58**

**1**

She woke with her skull throbbing. Something musty filled her nostrils, and she had an impulse to gag as she belatedly realized she wasn't in her own room at home.

The room around her was dimly lit, and she seemed to be on a small, narrow cot of some kind rather than her own familiar bed. She groaned, slowly rolling off her belly, and only getting her arms up under her with effort.

She finally pushed herself up, and realized her balance felt wrong. Everything felt wrong. She felt something pinch under her arms, and belatedly realized that whatever she was wearing was too tight across her torso. Which, she knew, was not the kind of thing she wore. Ever.

Sitting upright only after some genuine effort, she felt as if she were panting after a long run, or a hard fight, and slowly shook her head, still conscious of the throbbing that had yet to ease.

She put her hands up to her head, cradling her pounding temples, and then took a deeper breath, trying to assess her condition.

She froze, and frowned, as she slowly pulled her hands away from her head.

She gaped at the paler than usual flesh that blatantly contrasted with the light gray jumpsuit she was wearing. Then she focused on the darker than usual nails that looked more like claws than simple nails.

The few tangled strands of hair entwined in her fingers also drew her confused stare.

The hair was dark. Very dark. Much darker than her usual fiery mane. It was….black as coal. The kind of black that only came with certain genes, or from a bottle.

She belatedly realized her arms were spread farther apart than normal, and she looked down, seeing a very much increased bust-line that she knew was definitely not hers.

"No…..way," she moaned, even the soft, raspy sound of her voice making her skull throb all the more.

Not even her own voice.

Another's.

"I'm in Shego's body," Kim Possible moaned incredulously as she held up her hands in helpless bewilderment.

Focusing beyond her body, she looked around, and realized she was not only not in her own room, but she wasn't anywhere else that might be deemed safe. She was in some kind of jail. Maybe in one of the special cells built just to hold Shego at her worst.

Kim frowned.

She recalled the last time she had even seen Shego. She had been laying low for a while now before that whole Neutronalizer sitch. In fact, she had been staying unusually quiet right up until Drakken pulled that brain-switching bit to steal that experimental military ray.

Her last memory, however, was of facing down Drakken and Shego in that time-share lair, and then…..nothing.

She looked around the thick, gray walls that didn't quite seem to be concrete. Or steel. Another special alloy?

She had a toilet, a sink, and a narrow cot. Nothing else. The place reeked, too, which suggested it wasn't being cleaned very often.

Finally regaining enough strength, and composure, she stood up, and staggered to the heavy, steel panel that looked as if it had some kind of wiring surrounding the frame.

Whatever was going on, she had to let Dr. Director know someone had pulled a switch. Because if she wasn't in her own body, Kim realized that someone else was, and that could only mean trouble. She walked over, banged on the door, and shouted.

"Guard? Somebody? I need to talk to Dr. Director! Do you hear me? I need to contact Global Justice! It's important!"

There was no answer.

She put an ear to the door, but all she heard was a faint, soft humming.

Likely from whatever system sealed the door.

She banged again, but there was still no reply.

She wasn't even sure what time it was, or if there was anyone outside.

Then again, this was Shego's cell. Shego's body. If they went to all the trouble of locking her up like this, then someone was watching, even if she couldn't see any evidence of any cameras, or surveillance. Still, surely Wade had noticed something. Or had they got to him somehow?

Maybe even hurt him? Or Ron?

The thought worried her.

"Hello? I need to talk to Dr. Director," she called out again. "It's urgent! You have to contact her!"

She sagged against the door, the brief action, and her shouts, making her skull throb again like someone was tap-dancing on her head.

With steel boots.

She staggered toward the bed, and sank back down in a slouched posture.

"Damn it," she actually swore. "Someone has to have heard me. Surely….. Someone heard me," she groaned, and slowly shook her head.

She sat there waiting. Hoping someone would come. Someone had to have heard her. Surely they were listening to her. They would relay the message, and considering Dr. Director's usual interest in her, that is, in Shego, surely she would come.

She had to come.

Kim ended up dozing off sagging back against the hard wall next to the cot, and woke up with a bad kink in her neck.

She was, however, feeling much better.

If anything, she felt….energized.

Shego had a powerful metabolism thanks to her comet exposure. Kim had almost forgotten about that. Whatever else had happened, Shego's body was still powerful, and it had essentially healed whatever had plagued her earlier. Even as she sat up, and stretched out the kinks, a somewhat brighter light now filling the virtually seamless cell, she felt the kinks and aches from her bad sleeping posture already fading, too.

She stood up, generally flexing, and stretching as she looked around again.

She had no idea how Shego's powers actually worked, but she doubted trying to generate plasma at this point would help her.

She was about to walk to the door again when she noted something clanked, and a small slot near the bottom of the door opened, and a covered tray slid through a hinged panel she had not noticed before now.

She walked over, banged on the door, and shouted.

"Hey! I need to talk to Dr. Director. It's important."

She heard nothing.

She put her ear to the door again, and still heard nothing.

"Hey," she shouted again, and hit the door harder.

She gaped when green fire flared when she banged her fist into the panel.

She gaped all the more when she realized the door was actually slightly dented by her blow.

Her astonishment only grew when the door's hum increased briefly, and then the dent filled out, and the panel looked untouched just a few moment's later. Even the panel at the bottom now looked as if it had never been open. Or capable of opening. As if it had opened itself, and then resealed itself.

"Self-replicating? Or…..cybertronic," she murmured, thinking of her dad's latest theories. "I can see how they would hope that would hold her," Kim murmured, speculating on the device involved.

Then grimaced, and added, "Or rather, me."

She swore, and glared at the tray, and then eyed the door.

"I'm being serious here. Someone needs to get Dr. Director for me," she shouted.

She grumbled, and picked up the tray to carry it over to her cot, sitting down beside the tray before uncovering it.

"They have got to be kidding," she grimaced, staring at the unappetizing mound of runny scrambled eggs, a very underdone piece of bacon, and a stale piece of toast on a Styrofoam plate. No butter. No seasoning. One plastic spork. Along with a plastic cup filled with some kind of juice.

It was hard to say what kind, since it was dark, looked oddly pulpy, and less than appetizing.

She grimaced, and pondered a hunger strike, until she remembered something Shego used to do all the time. Usually showing off.

"Maybe," she murmured, and pointed at her plate.

Of course, nothing happened.

She sighed, then shook her head as she pondered her own experiences with fighting the woman with comet powers over the past months.

Closing her eyes, she drew a deep breath, hopefully found the right trigger, and then opened her eyes. A green fluttering covered the tray, turning the Styrofoam suspiciously curdled, but cooking both bacon and eggs until the were done.

She wasn't altogether sure there was anything she could do about the juice.

She wasn't going to drink it, though. It had a weird after-smell that made her more than suspicious of it. She'd drink water from the tap first.

Eating the reheated, and now cooked eggs, she dumped the juice in the toilet, and then rinsed the cup carefully after seeing the strange, milky residue in the bottom. Did they really think she'd drink _that_?

Sipping water from the tap, after assessing its clarity, she gulped down a few cups before she set the cup on the tray, covered the tray once more, and put the tray on the floor by the door again. She figured that was likely part of the routine that ensured she got to eat again.

Just to be sure they got the message, though, she used a superheated claw to carve, "Call Dr. Director" onto the top of the plastic tray.

Let them ignore that, she fumed.

They obviously did.

She counted at least nine 'days' before she started to seriously get impatient.

God only knew what damage was being done out there by the real Shego. Especially if she were, as Kim suspected, in her body.

She banged on the door more than once by the time the tenth day passed.

She unleashed all the plasma she could summon on the door at one point, and just stared when the door glowed hot, then somehow absorbed both the heat and energy without showing a single trace of damage.

It made her scream in frustration.

By the fourteenth day, she realized brute force, and even comet power was not going to open that door.

Maybe Shego, the real Shego, could figure out something, but Kim was no slouch herself.

She stopped relying on Shego's borrowed body, and powers, and began to use her own mind, which seemed intact so far as she could tell. Even if she couldn't figure out how she had ended up here in this cell, in the wrong body.

She walked over to the door again, heard the humming increase, and guessed someone was watching in order to increase the power to fuel whatever process kept it intact. She found it difficult to imagine any computer managing to do so without some human interaction, because it would be too easy for the computer to break down, or be overwhelmed.

No, someone was monitoring her.

Which meant someone knew she was calling for Dr. Director, and ignoring her.

She didn't know why, and just then, she didn't care.

She didn't bother to relay her true message. That she wasn't Shego, but Kim Possible. She could guess how they would accept that claim after all the tricks Shego, the real Shego, had played on the Law in the past.

She studied the door carefully, her intellect assessing it as she now let her fingers run over the cool metal.

As she suspected, the wiring on the frame was slightly raised. She suspected it was using a nanno-receptor system to absorb, and channel energy. She had seen that kind of thing when her dad used to drag her to the space center years ago with the Rocket Boosters.

Still, the wiring array explained that much.

The metal itself was likely cybertronic, or was using some other self-replicating system.

Right.

Someone was monitoring the cell to ensure the computer constantly fed adequate commands for regulating energy needs to her…..outbursts.

Which meant that they had eyes on her.

The thought creeped her out.

Bad enough she was stuck in a single, gray jumpsuit with no way to change so far as she knew. Bad enough she had to wash in that sink, use that seatless toilet without cover, and in short, live like an animal in this box. The idea someone was watching all that, and still not giving her the decency of a reply made her furious.

If this was Shego's usual experience, little wonder she hated these people.

This was….inhuman.

She glanced around again, and noted the seamless walls. The smooth, flat material with not so much as a break. She had finally found a vent. Just big enough for air flow to keep her from suffocating, but little else.

Except, maybe a camera?

She walked over to the cot, ripped it out of its inadequate moorings, and then shoved it over to the wall where she could climb up and look in the narrow vent.

The gleam of a single, glass eye confirmed her guess.

"I hate perverts," she snarled, and fired a blast of plasma through the narrow grate to destroy the camera.

To her relief, it exploded on cue.

Then she noted a tiny wheel near the other side of the vent.

Which meant another camera could likely be rolled right up into place in due time.

She glowered at that, and then leaned down, using her claws to rip up the musty mattress on her cot, and used the strips to stuff into the vent so nothing could be seen that way.

"Let them figure that one out from over there," she huffed.

She then ensured there were no other hiding places, and found no other surveillance devices before she walked over to the door again, and planned her next move.

"The thing about cybertronic interaction," she murmured, remember her dad's rambling, "Is you must have a steady circuit, because it can be easy to short out."

She used her claws again, superheating her fingertips the way she had seen Shego do, and slid them across the frame just deep enough to tear into the wiring just visible on the metal surface. She quickly pulled the scorched ends up, and then crossed several of the wires even as the metal and cable casings tried to reseal themselves.

They did, but by then, Kim had already crossed over a half-dozen wires, and she could tell by the now increasingly discordant hum that something was not working quite so well as before inside the panel locking her in this hellish prison.

She smirked, and using the far side of the door near where a lock was likely located, she unleashed all the plasma she could summon on that area as the air began to grow heated, and the stench of ozone filled the air.

"Nothing like an overloaded system to screw up the most foolproof device," she grinned, and on cue, she rammed both glowing hands into the side of that steel frame, and found that this time, the steel yielded as her fingers managed to sink into the yielding metal that wasn't repairing itself this time.

She got her fingers in deep enough to get a grip, and now she increased the energy as she now pushed with all her might, and heard the satisfying groan of warping steel.

Then, with a reverberating clang, the door swung abruptly back, and she was staring at over a dozen guards all standing in a narrow hall with armed weapons pointed directly at her.

Kim dusted her hands, and smiled.

"Sorry about that, but someone was ignoring me, and I was being very serious when I said I needed to speak to Dr. Director. So, how about someone gets her over here, or at least on the phone? And while you're at it, I could use a shower, and fresh clothing."

Several of the men eyed one another, all of them looking nervous, and all of them unsure of what to do.

Then Kim realized they weren't ordinary prison guards.

They were all in military fatigues.

All carrying military ordinance.

"Are you guys all deaf-mutes, or what," she demanded. "Dr. Director? Shower? Clothes? Do I have to do everything myself?"

"Just get back in the cell, woman," a man with sergeant's stripes demanded, aiming his rifle at her head.

Kim sighed.

"If I wanted, I could have already blown past you, or through you. Whatever. Now, I'm standing here, trying to be cooperative, so how about you return the effort? Because I'm getting really tired of being ignored, and….."

"What is that prisoner doing out of her cell," a burly man wearing a lieutenant's bars demanded as he walked up behind the other men just then. "Who opened that door?"

"That would be me," Kim smiled, waving at him.

"Just get back inside, woman. You're not going anywhere, and….."

"I'm trying to be nice about this," Kim sighed. "I really am. I just want someone to call Dr. Director. I need to speak to her at once. It's important."

"Open fire," the officer spat his command.

Before he finished the second word, Kim was moving.

Military, or not, she knew how men fought. How they reacted.

Fortunately, she was familiar enough with Shego, and of late, Shego's body, that she pulled off the flying leap over the men's heads to land just in front of the officer who didn't seem to realize just how fast 'Shego' could move.

Spinning around after ascertaining the man was no threat, she took out the armed soldiers from behind before they could quite grasp the fact she was behind them. She disarmed the lot, left more than a few of fourteen men unconscious, and then turned back to the glowering officer.

"Now, let's try again," Kim told him, taking a step toward him, her bare feet chilled slightly by the cool metal flooring.

Metal flooring?

She looked down, and around.

The entire corridor was made of metal.

Ignoring the discovery, she eyed the man as she stepped right up to him, and almost smirked when he cringed.

"Why won't you just call Dr. Director for me?"

"Because she has nothing to do with our authority, or this operation. You're our prisoner, woman. And unlike those civilian slackers at Global Justice, _we_ do not make mistakes. You aren't going anywhere except back into that cell, or….."

"Or," Kim prompted him.

The man smiled a chilling smile.

"I'll send the self-destruct code that will bury this entire complex on your head."

"So, we're underground," Kim realized.

"Five miles down. Even _you_ can't get out of this facility."

"So, you'd sacrifice all your men's lives? Even your own. Just because you don't want to make a phone call," Kim exclaimed.

The man glowered without batting an eye.

"You have nothing we want to hear. I know all about you, Gordeaux. All about you. This time, you're staying right where you belong. In that cell."

"Gordeaux," she echoed in confusion. "Suppose I told you _Shego_ isn't here."

The man didn't even bat an eye.

"Suppose I told you that somehow, I don't know how yet, she already got out?"

"Nice try. I don't buy it, since I'm standing here looking right at you," he said.

"Yes. You are looking at Shego. Or, at least, her body."

"Her….body. What kind of game do you think you're pulling now, woman," the officer spat.

"The reason, Lt Makker," she read his uniform's nameplate, "Is because I'm not Shego. I may be in her body, but I'm not her. I'm….someone else."

"Of course you are," he spat.

"Fine. I'll tell you. Then you'll call Dr. Director. Because I'm afraid _she_ may be in my body. My real body. God only knows what she may be up to out there, either."

"Right," the man huffed.

"I'm Kim Possible," she told him. "And I can prove it."

The man's smile was beyond cynical.

"I am," she told him.

The man still didn't bat an eye.

"Unlikely. For one, I happen to know that Kim Possible _retired_ three years ago."

"What. That's not possible. I was on a mission just before I woke up….here. Like this," Kim Possible spat.

"Last chance. Then I use _my_ code, which the computer listening will accept, and carry out the self-destruct command once it hears my….."

"Thanks for the tip," she said, staring down at the now unconscious man she had just knocked out cold with a single punch. One that likely broke his jaw.

In two places.

If he couldn't talk, he couldn't do anything stupid.

She hoped.

Tying him up with his own belt and laces, she found a security card in his blouse, and then loped down the hall to the only exit.

An elevator shaft.

She stepped inside, used the card, and started the lift upwards, the only direction apparently available.

Even as the car began moving, so was Kim.

She jumped up, pushed open the service panel, and gracefully climbed out onto the top of the moving car as it continued to ascend. It stopped apparently one floor before the uppermost level, but she expected some kind of failsafe like that.

She leapt up, using the cable to climb up to that last level, and carefully pushed the doors open from the edge.

She looked out at a brightly lit lobby with no one present.

She frowned, and eased out after a few minutes passed, and no one shouted orders, or tried to shoot. She found herself in the brightly lit lobby of an office building. A snoring security guard was dozing at his post, and even had his feet up on the console that displayed monitors showing only ordinary offices in an ordinary office building.

She frowned, and padded past him to stare out locked doors at a nondescript street.

One lit only by street lamps, and the sliver of moonlight from a crescent just visible over the artificial horizon of a city she didn't recognize. She glanced around, but saw nothing but a nondescript logo that could have been anything, or anyone.

She walked back to the guard's post, and frowned as she studied the computer there.

"No…..way," she rasped not for the first time since waking that first time as Shego.

This time, however, it was because according to her own reckoning, and the date on the monitor before her, she had been out of touch for over _six_ years. Almost seven.

That just wasn't possible, no pun intended.

Six _years_? What had happened to her?

The guard snorted, shifted restlessly as one foot fell from the console, then resettled into his overstuffed chair that was in danger of falling over.

"Six years," she frowned, and tried to understand.

One thing was certain, she had to find someone to help her. Only she wasn't going to get far looking like a green-skinned felon from her own past. She needed clothes. A disguise, and a way to find out where she was before she could make plans to find anyone else that might help.

She headed for the back hall, knowing any office building had some kind of janitorial area, and it would have work clothes, and hopefully, a locker room of some kind she could exploit. Either way, she had to get out of here, and fast, before those soldiers below came to, and started hunting her.

Something now told her they weren't just keeping Shego in prison.

They were keeping her in permanent isolation.

Why? What had the woman done this time?

And how had she lost over six years?

So many questions. Unfortunately, she wasn't even sure where to start finding answers. Let alone how.

Yet.

_To Be Continued…_


	2. Chapter 2

_I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Stranger In The Mirror**

**By LJ58**

**2**

The city had changed.

She had not initially recognized it after escaping the larger city, because after more than six years things had obviously changed. A lot.

Billings had changed.

She considered calling Uncle Slim, but she could imagine her reception if she showed up looking like she did now. No, she had to get home. Find Wade, and hopefully find a way to get back in her own body. First, however, she had to get past the army sure to be looking for her now.

Two people walked past her, and she turned her head, hiding her face as she cringed away from the distracted pair who thankfully didn't even look at her.

It helped that she was currently wearing loose, gray sweats, and had a old, grayish hoody over them that covered most of her face. Her feet were crammed into a pair of old boots stuffed with paper towels to help the fit, and likely helped make her look just plain enough to overlook.

It likely also helped that she kept her hands stuffed in her pockets.

Not one hint of green flesh on display so long as she kept her face hidden in shadows beneath her hoody. She just wished she had something to eat now, but she had at least been able to shower in that locker room she had found where she borrowed her current wardrobe.

She had been wandering the streets earlier since leaving that office building by a back door that someone had left open. Thankfully, it had not set off any alarms, and she was gone before any of the soldiers had shown. She headed for the edge of town, just looking for something to help her get her bearings, and put distance between her and one particular building.

It was near dawn when she realized there was a public paper on display that finally told her where she was at the moment.

Said paper stunned her.

It was digital, for one thing. Hardly new, but it was displayed on an open screen on the side of the street. Download options were available, but the front page was easily legible to show what was on offer for the _Daily Journal_. And the headlines were equally stunning.

The date from the office building's computer was confirmed, and that meant she really had somehow lost six years.

What had her stunned, yet again, was that another familiar face was on the front. Only it seemed….different.

On the lead banner, 'Ron Stoppable' was being heralded with saving the world yet again with the aide of his _wife_.

Kim was pretty sure she wasn't married. But, Ron? Who had he married? How had he convinced them?

Still. It had been six years.

What else had she missed?

Under that banner was a really bad shot of Shego, with the smaller headline declaring that she had recently escaped federal custody, and was on the loose again after 'attacking' a group of military men, and seriously injuring them while carrying out her escape.

Well, that was technically true. Still, it wasn't going to help her case just then. Which made it all the more important she lay low, and get away. Fast.

Fortunately, she looked nothing like herself. Well, not like Shego's usual self.

She had also learned by now that she was now somewhere outside Billings in a small city in Montana. She just had no idea how she had gotten there, or if that military bunker was common knowledge, or not. She wished she could read more of the two particular articles that drew her eye, but she saw a sheriff's car rolling past, its uniformed driver eyeing her now, and she couldn't too well snatch a paper, since it was electronic, and she had no way to download it just then.

She had to get out of this town, she decided. And back where she could find help.

She gave a curt wave to the sheriff's deputy, sticking to the shadows nearer the building, and then kept walking. She used the storefronts to keep an eye on the cruiser that went down the block, turned, and seemed to be heading back her way.

By the time it turned, she slipped into an alley, ran down it to lose herself in the shadows, and kept going.

Earlier that day, she had found a local library that was open, and tried to use a public computer terminal to contact GJ, and Dr. Director. Or even Wade. None of her messages seem to go through, though. All of them were refused, and the few numbers she knew weren't accepted by the phone in the lobby of that library either which seem to require pin numbers she didn't possess.

That meant that she was still on her own, without a single clue as to what was going on.

Over six years lost.

Ron was still a hero, but there was no word on her. On Kim Possible.

That brief headline made it clear that Shego, apparently still a villain, was now being hunted for breaking out of 'prison.'

If only she knew what was going on.

It was the not knowing that was driving her crazy.

So many questions, and she had no idea where to find help.

She just knew she had to avoid the law for now.

And the army.

**KP**

Kim rolled over, and stretched out the kinks in her body as she glanced around the forest that bordered the old highway she was following.

She had raided a dumpster behind a diner the night before leaving that last small town, and then had to lay low until dark to make a run for the forest. The last thing she wanted to do was risk being spotted on an open road, with no place to go.

She used darkness to cover her escape from the smaller town, and then looked up.

The sun was up, and the sky was far too bright for her to risk the road again.

She stood up, glancing around, and felt her stomach rumble again. Those few scraps she had salvaged had not lasted long. Shego's body must have the metabolism of a horse. A race horse. She grimaced, and decided to try to keep moving, even if she didn't dare risk the road.

Taking her bearings, she turned south once more, and hoped she was still close to her bearings. She didn't dare get in a hurry. If she did, she would be caught for certain, and the army had already proven they were in no mood to listen to her.

She had really hoped using the library might have gotten her in touch with someone at GJ. Even that had not worked out. She was running out of options, and couldn't even call home, since she knew she wouldn't sound like herself, and didn't have the money, or ability to make the call in the first place. Not with the new phone system she had run into here.

She was really missing her Kimmunicator now.

And Wade.

She had really taken him for granted, she now felt, since she had gotten very used to calling him up, and having the answers on tap from the boy genius that helped her run her missions via her website. Things would be so much easier if she could get in touch with him now, but without her Kimmunicator, she wasn't sure how to reach him.

Or anyone.

So she walked.

Which was when she heard the train whistle not far off.

She almost shouted as she ran through the forest, hoping the train was heading south, and hoping she could catch it. Still, if she found tracks, then it meant she had a better chance of reaching home without anyone spotting her.

After all, even six years ago, not many people paid much attention the trains away from the stations.

Running as fast as she could, which was pretty fast in Shego's body, she spotted the end of the freight heading south just then. Too far to reach, but it still gave her hope. Sooner or later, she would be close enough to hop a train headed her way. Next time, she would be in place, and she would be headed home.

She just had to make sure no one spotted her before she could get on a train.

**KP**

"What do you mean, it isn't any of my business," the grim, brunette woman with silvering hair, and a single eye snapped, her dark eye patch over her other eye giving her an ominous look as she glared at the man on her communications screen.

"Let's face it, lady," the man in army green with medals over most of his chest, "You, and your people have nothing to do with this operation this time. I suggest you just stay out of it, and let us do our jobs."

"I was unaware that the military was now involved in international law enforcement in this nation," Dr. Betty Director shot back as the man in the Pentagon she had contacted cut her off with a cold look.

"Clever. Just stay out of the way. You are interfering with an important operation….."

"If it involves a known felon….."

"I'm only saying this once. Back off. Any of your people that are caught interfering will be arrested, and indefinitely detained. For treason. Understand?"

"General Hardgrave," Dr. Director swore, her own temper starting to rise.

"That's all. Goodbye."

Dr. Betty Director stared at the blank screen incredulously.

"He….."

She looked around her command center, and saw her people staring silently at her.

"He….hung up on me. On _me,"_ she roared as her command staff cringed now.

"What now, ma'am," Commander Du asked her blandly, as if he had never quite found his own emotions in spite of his long years of experience as one of her top field agents.

Then again, only two women had ever truly unsettled him enough to make him lose his cool. One had retired, and one had apparently been long since retired. Until that peculiar story had come out, and suddenly Shego was back in the news.

Only something about this one was way off track. Shego, held in an undisclosed location, by an undisclosed agency, suddenly breaking out of an apparently covert military facility?

Red flags were going off all over the place, and it seemed that only she was worrying about them. Because something about this one screamed trouble. She had to find out what was happening, and fast, before Shego, a known troublemaker at the best of times, did something they would all regret.

"Du, find Dr. Lipski, question him thoroughly on this matter. Agent Fyne," she turned to her communications operator. "Get me the AJ, and the President. Now."

"Uhm, which one first," the somber woman asked her superior.

"I don't care, but I want them both. Now," Dr. Director demanded as she stalked out of the command center. "And get two…. Three of our best tracking teams in the field now. I want to know where Shego's going, as well as where she's been," she added hotly.

"And if they encounter the general's men," another agent asked.

"Then they defend themselves," Dr. Director shot over her shoulder. "Because until I know better, it sounds like General Hardgrave is a suspect authority. You have your orders. Move," she barked as she left the Command Center.

Everyone gave a collective sigh of relief even as Agent Fyne began making her calls.

**KP**

Kim Possible felt more than a little ashamed as she sat in the shadows inside a freight car, eating from a box of dried fruit she had taken from a crate she had found. She would have to reimburse the company later, but just then, it was eat, or starve. She didn't like the idea of starving.

She just needed something to drink, and she'd feel pretty good again, but for now, the fruit was a godsend.

Pocketing much of the excess for later, she crept to the door left open just enough to make out the terrain speeding past just then, and tried to assess how far she had come since hopping onto the freight train sometime back.

She had walked for hours along the track before she had heard another train coming, and hidden just in case until it got past her. Then she had broken from cover, jumped onto the last car, and crept along the train on the tops of the cars until she came to one filled with crates labeled with a certain fruit company's logo.

She had been staying inside since as the freight train sped past cities, and borders, and carried her farther south.

The very direction she needed.

She just didn't need to miss her own stop, or it would be that much harder to get back, since anything south of Middleton was going to be a lot more open, and a lot harder to cross without being seen.

That made for short, furtive naps, and not many of those.

Still, she was so eager to get home, and find out what was going on this time, that she wasn't that tired anyway. All she had to do was think of that cell, knowing the army likely wanted her back in it, and she was less than eager to sleep too deeply anyway.

If they didn't just try shooting her on sight this time.

She still couldn't figure out what was going on. The brief information she got since escaping didn't tell her anything.

No big plans seemed to be in play. Kim had yet to hear what her body had been up to, but there was a lot of talk in the few headlines she had seen about Ron, and his wife. Had she become a sidekick? A married sidekick?

Only how would that fit into any of Drakken and Shego's plans?

Maybe something had gone wrong?

She didn't know, but one thing was certain, she was going to find out. And no one, not even the United States Army, was going to get in her way. Because she was still Kim Possible, and anything was possible for her.

Anything.

**KP**

Kim Possible yawned, stood up from the couch, and glared not for the first time at the door where someone was knocking.

Not ringing the bell. Knocking.

Hard.

Jerks.

Didn't they know it was after midnight?

So what if she couldn't sleep with all the papers she still had to grade. Because she knew Professor Smythe would have a fit if she showed up without them.

Her mentor was a genuinely smart man, and a big help in her physics major, but he was also a major pain in her backside.

Levering herself to her feet, she reached for her cane, which she hated almost as much as she still hated Professor Dementor even three years after that last mission, and limped toward the door.

"This better not be some prank…"

"Hello, Kimberly," the graying brunette spoke blandly to her when Kim opened the door to glower at the sight of the one-eyed woman standing there.

"What now? You do remember that I'm out of the business," Kim Possible complained as she eyed the woman at her door. "I'm pretty sure Will _framed_ that memo."

"Have you seen the recent Montana headlines this week," the woman asked curtly as she bulled her way into Kim's modest apartment.

"And I would be reading them, why," the redhead asked sourly as she eyed the woman who walked in, looked around, and glanced back at her without showing the slightest emotion.

"Call them up. The Daily Journal out of Billings, in particular," Dr. Director told her with a nod. "Trust me. You need to see them."

Kim sighed, knowing you still didn't brush off the head of Global Justice, and lifted her arm to switch on her Kimmunicator's virtual display. She tapped a few keys, and soon had the area papers online, and studied the one heralding Ron's latest triumph.

She gave a faint smile, seeing him and Monique standing there obviously posing for the camera. They did look good together.

"I wasn't referring to Ronald's latest exploits. Go down the page."

Kim sighed, and scrolled the online paper. Then her brows furrowed, and she adjusted the virtual display for the story that caught her attention.

"Shego? What was she….? I thought she retired," Kim Possible frowned as she looked up from the paper she had quickly accessed on her Kimmunicator.

"We all did. No one's heard from her in well over six years. Suddenly, I have a unsubstantiated report that she just broke out of an undisclosed military facility, after doing a lot of damage. Bodily, and property."

"Something is odd about that. What place ever held Shego for half that long? And this story is so full of holes it has to be off," Kim frowned.

"I agree. Something is odd. Because the day after that story came out, we got six different security flags with someone trying to use an _old_ GJ security code from a local library computer just outside Billings."

Dr. Director held up her PDA that displayed an image of a hooded figure hovering over a computer screen. Kim took the device, studying it as she led Dr. Director into the kitchen now, and took seats at the nook after Kim poured them both coffee with her free hand. Even in shadow, Kim easily recognized the silhouette.

"She's looked better, but there's no doubt," the redhead grimaced. "That's Shego. Only, even in that hoody, she doesn't look like she's aged a day since I last saw her."

"No, she doesn't, does she?"

"What does the military say about all this," Kim asked.

"Yet another oddity. I can't get a straight answer out of them. They say she broke out of holding, but won't say from where. She is said to have done a lot of damage, and hurt a lot of people, but they won't say where, or who. All they'll admit is that she's out, and they want her back."

"In short," Kim summarized for her as she sipped from her cup after handing the PDA back, "Something is seriously wrong with the entire story."

"Very wrong. I can't even find out who allegedly arrested her in the first place, or when. Let alone why. My requests for more information have been stone-walled all the way to D.C., and back."

"That does sound about typical. For the _spook_ types."

"Ordinarily, I'd agree. Only these are supposedly only _military_ authorities here. But that's all I can discern. I just sent Will out to D.C. to see if he can uncover something. Because even the AJ, and the Man himself told me they didn't have a clue what was going on."

"If anyone can find out what's being hidden, he can," Kim agreed easily.

"I don't suppose Ronald is back form his…..sabbatical."

"Not yet. He and Monique aren't due back for another three weeks. He only interrupted his….journey because that idiot _Handsome Hal _was about to do some serious damage to the world," she reminded her, rolling her eyes at one of the stranger new baddies on the scene of late. Sometimes, she was genuinely glad she had been forced to retire.

Sometimes.

Dr. Director sighed.

"You two did….do draw some strange ones."

"Look in the mirror much," Kim huffed, and offered to pour her fresh coffee into the cup she was still sipping.

Dr. Director shook her head.

"I just wanted to give you a heads up. Just in case."

"In case….?"

"I was able to find out a little more than the military, in spite of their demands we back off. We located several witnesses who reportedly saw a suspiciously _pale_ woman leaving the city headed due south. It's possible, no pun intended, Kimberly, that she may be coming for you."

"You said she tried using an old security code?"

"It was perfect. Except for being outdated."

Kim frowned.

"How would she have even known them at all? And surely she had to know using them at all would get her flagged, and draw immediate attention."

"I'm not really sure what to think," she told Kim honestly as she shook her head, and stood up to go. "I'll let you know what, if anything we find. As I said, I thought I should give you a head's up. Just in case."

"I appreciate it. I liked to think that Shego had….wised up in the end. This…. It just doesn't feel right."

"Oh?"

"Let's be honest here, Dr. Director. Shego's always been clever, careful, and…. Well, stylish. Even with Drakken."

"You mean Drew. Let's leave _that_ particular alter ego buried, if you please."

Kim grimaced, but nodded.

"My point is, all this seems a bit….out of character. Harried, and haphazard. Even….impulsive, maybe."

"In short, nothing like the Shego we knew," Dr. Director agreed.

"Exactly."

"Well, it's been six years," Dr. Director pointed out. "Longer, actually, considering she dropped out of sight right after Drew went straight."

"It's funny, but I really thought they would have….?"

"Drew Lipski, and Shego," Dr. Director blinked as she eyed her.

"Okay, when you put it that way….."

"You're an idealist, Kimberly. It's part of your strength. Just don't let it blind you at the moment. We have no idea what's going on, but if she is coming after you….."

"I doubt it, but…..I sure I can still handle her," she said confidently, not even looking at the cane near her stool.

"I hope that is true," Betty said grimly now. "Recall, someone has likely been holding her for at least six years. We have no idea what was going on during that time. She could be…..unhinged."

Kim glanced at the photo now on her Kimmicator's display as she studied it, and frowned.

"I don't think so."

"No?"

"She's obviously trying to lay low, but she's looking for something. Or someone. She deliberately slipped out of town without trying to steal a car, or anything obvious. I think she's trying to be subtle. That doesn't strike me as someone unhinged. Just….cautious. Frankly, it's probably what _I'd_ do."

"I'll take your word for it. Just be careful."

"You, too. I hear D.C. is a mess these days. Even you can't afford to step on the wrong toes these days."

"You'd be surprised what I could afford if I put my mind to it," Dr. Director told her blandly as ever. "Watch your back, Kimberly. I think even you know that you can still be taken by surprise. Demenz proved that one quite well."

Kim resisted the urge to shudder now.

"He just better be glad he's still hiding," Kim grumbled.

"I expect he still fears a visit from Ronald."

"He might fear Ron, but by now, he's likely terrified of me," Kim smiled.

"But…..you've not even been in the field…..?"

Kim only smiled, saying nothing as she sipped from her own coffee mug again.

"I'll take your word for it. I'll just let myself out."

"I have to lock up anyway," Kim told her, getting back to her feet.

Dr. Director said nothing as she left the apartment, walked down the stairs in thoughtful silence, and walked over to slide into the passenger seat of the company car.

"Something wrong, ma'am," her assigned driver asked.

"No. Nothing. Let's go," she said, gesturing, but she was putting a few things together.

Kimberly was supposedly out of touch with field work. Yet she had just let a few things slip.

She knew Demenz was hiding, out of fear, and that meant she might just be behind the very graphic, and ominous threats on so-called 'Terror-Net' that were promising 'Buckethead' was going to need that bucket to bury what was left of him. The anonymous poster was asking for input as to which ending was best suited for him.

Then went into graphic detail of just how they were thinking of ending him.

None of the scenarios were pretty.

In fact, they likely would have inspired quite a few schlock films did a screenwriter ever see the posts.

Was Kimberly behind them?

Or had she spurred Wade into helping her torment the man with some very grizzly psychological warfare?

She glanced back at the innocuous apartment building Kim, and Team Possible occupied, and shook her head.

Retired?

That wasn't the feeling Betty had gotten.

Kimberly was still up to something.

And it had nothing to do with those science texts, and papers she had pointedly scattered around the apartment as if decorating the place in careless coed chic.

That made her wonder.

Just now, though, her full attention had to be on Shego. Because if she knew anything, it was that trouble always followed that woman. Always.

It was just a question of what, and how bad.

_To Be Continued…._


	3. Chapter 3

_I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Stranger In The Mirror**

**By LJ58**

**3**

Kim jumped off the second freight train she had hopped just after three in the morning, and saw the lights of Middleton in the near distance.

Even from where she stood, she could tell it didn't look like her hometown had changed that much. She couldn't help but smile, but now was no time to get careless. Not when she was so close to finally getting home. And maybe finding help.

She resisted the urge to run, and decided to stay cautious, and stealthy, knowing she couldn't be caught now. Not before she could get home, and convince her folks she was…. Well, who she was inside.

It was easy to stay in shadows as she slipped into town, and followed the side streets and alleys she knew like the back of her own hand.

Well, her real hand.

She came to her house just before dawn, and groaned.

No cars.

The place was empty.

There was even a 'For Sale' sign in the front.

Her family had moved?

Not good. Not good for her, because she wasn't sure what to do now.

Then she remembered Ron.

If he was married, he wouldn't be home, though. Not his parents' home.

Still, knowing Ron, he would likely still be living in Middleton. She headed back into town, and sought out a convenience store. Going to one of those new digital phones on the wall, she didn't bother even trying to call. She just looked up the number for Ron Stoppable.

She almost laughed when she saw his address listed, too.

And it wasn't far from where she knew the mall was located.

She glanced up, saw the sky brightening, and knew she had to move fast. She couldn't afford to be seen here of all places when the sun came up. Not without reaching someone that would listen to her explanation without calling the wrong people.

Just now, everyone was the wrong people.

She slipped back around the store, glanced back to ensure no one had noticed her, or was following, and headed back up the street toward the mall.

She found the address on a street that used to be a dead-end street. Now, several apartment buildings were rising over the block. The one she was hunting had a stylized _TP_ across the top, and she gaped as she realized what that had to mean.

"Only Ron," she groaned, knowing she would never have gone that route.

She only then realized she had no idea what apartment was his.

She did wonder if her parents were living here, too. Though why should they trade their house for an apartment…..?

Then she remembered the Tweebs.

"That could do it," she murmured, knowing how many neighbors had come to hate her brothers, and their increasingly insane experiments.

God only knew what they had been up since.

They would have to be…..

She shuddered at the idea of them being teenagers. Her age. Well, her real age before her life….blinked.

Still, the answers were in that building. She was sure of it.

She just had to be clever, and careful.

It wasn't as if she didn't have a lot of experience with getting into places she wasn't supposed to go.

She grinned again, and headed for the three-story structure, determined to find out what had happened to her, and fix it.

**KP**

Kim woke abruptly, still used to sleeping light these days, and realized someone was standing over her bed. Someone that had gotten into her apartment, and her bedroom, without setting off any alarms. She forced herself to stay calm as she looked up, and realized she knew those features.

Dr. Director had been right after all.

"Shego," Kim rasped, staring up at the woman who stood over her, looking down at her with a strange expression in her eyes.

"What are you doing here," Kim finally asked the intruder, realizing she was still just staring at her, as if paralyzed.

"What….? Am I….? How did you take my body! _Why_ did you take my body," Shego demanded abruptly, and sounded more than sincere saying it as Kim gaped up at her.

"What?"

Shego's fists glowed faintly as she clenched them so tightly they looked like hard knots of bone that were about to explode as the green plasma ringed them.

"I don't know how you did it, but I want my body back. _Now_!"

"Okay," Kim murmured. "Look, we obviously need to….talk. Can I sit up?"

Shego glared heatedly at her, her features as set, and grim as she had ever seen them.

"I just want to….talk," she said, holding her hands up, but not otherwise moving. "I'm not sure what you're talking about, but if I can just sit….."

"Talk? Talk? I don't want to talk, _Shego_," she spat, almost wailing now. "I want my own body back!"

"Your body!"

"I'm the _real_ Kim Possible, and you know it," Shego almost screamed, smashing a hand into the wall, and putting a scorched crater in it with her plasma.

"Calm down," Kim rasped, rolling out of bed in that moment of distraction Shego herself provided, and standing on the far side of the bed now, balancing precariously on her good leg.

Unfortunately, that put Shego between her and the door. And the phone.

"Calm down," Shego all but screeched. "Do you know what I've been going through? People think I'm _you_! They're trying to _kill_ me!"

"Shego…."

"I'm _not_ Shego!" the woman screamed.

Kim stared.

"You…..really think you're…..me?"

"I _am_ you! Me! I'm _Kim_! The real Kim Possible. I…"

The woman stared at her, and Kim tensed.

"How did you do it," she moaned, going limp as her hands dropped now, fists relaxing as her plasma faded. "Why…?"

The woman, obviously pushed near her limits, dropped to her knees.

Kim stepped forward, and Shego's eyes flashed her way.

"Don't! Don't….."

And then Shego fell on her face, out cold.

Kim stared down at her, then walked over, and picked up not the phone, but her Kimmunicator. "Wade, you still up? I have a seriously weird sitch."

**KP**

Shego sat in the dining room chair at the table, staring glumly as she eyed the bowl of steaming oatmeal before her.

"Sorry, it's about all I can make," Kim said. "That, and coffee," she added, setting the steaming mug down before her.

Shego grunted, and looked up at her through her dark bangs as Kim sat down on the far side of the table with her own cup.

"Why are you being nice?"

"Because you obviously need help. Something odd is going on here, and while I'm not sure what's going on, obviously, someone has done….something. We need to find out what, and why."

Shego shook her head.

"I don't understand this. How could I lose over _six_ years? How could I lose my body? How….?"

"Shego…."

"_Don't_ call me that," the woman hissed.

"All right. All right. How about….Anne?"

Shego glared, but didn't argue.

"Just so we don't get confused here?"

"Fine," Shego finally grumbled. "But I know who I am. I just don't know who _you_ are."

"Obviously, I am Kim. I am pretty sure I'm the only one, too. So whatever happened to you is something that I have to take seriously, considering you….disappeared the way you did so long ago. I'm having Wade check some scans I did while you were out, and hopefully we're going to figure this out. I promise you, I will help. Something is seriously off here, and I don't like the stories I've been hearing from the media, or the military."

"They are the ones trying to kill me. They kept me in some weird cell, and wouldn't even answer me. I thought I was going to go crazy down there," Shego muttered, and finally picked up a spoon.

"You okay now?"

"Coffee helps," she asked, looking around as she sipped it. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Kim nodded.

"What's with the cane? You get hurt doing a mission?"

"You could say that. Dementor suckered me a few years ago. Almost killed me. He pretty much ended any hopes of motherhood I had, too. Someday," Kim said with an expression the newly christened Anne had never seen on that face, "I hope to repay him one day."

"So, you aren't the real Shego? You aren't trying to…..pull something?"

"No. And, no."

"Oh. I was so sure…."

"We'll figure it out," Kim promised her.

Shego only nodded.

"I don't understand this. If you're not Shego, and I'm not Shego..."

"You need to eat. You still look pretty thin," she said, thinking of those packets of dried fruit she had found in the woman's hoody when she checked her while she had been unconscious.

"Hard to find food on the run," Shego murmured as she toyed with the spoon before finally taking a bite.

Kim only nodded as the woman ate. Still, the Shego she knew would have broken in someplace, and taken whatever she wanted. Without hesitation.

"So, where's Ron," Shego finally asked, looking around with the faintest of smiles. A near hopeful one.

"Mission."

"Oh. Alone," she frowned.

"With his wife."

"He actually….? Who did he marry?"

"Monique."

"Get out," Shego exclaimed, sounding eerily like Kim had once upon a time. "Monique, and Ron? That's so….weird."

"Well, they kind of….fit."

"And she does hero work now?"

"She's pretty good. Of course, not as good as Ron when he gets going."

"He's that good now?"

"He is now. You know, because of the mystical-monkey stuff?"

"Mystical…..monkey? Are you serious," she frowned, and Kim felt her skin crawl the way Shego sounded, and acted just like her just then.

"You know what, let's do some Q&A here while we're waiting on Wade. What's the last clear memory you have before you….woke up as Shego."

"I….. We, Ron, and I, were heading for that time-share where Drakken and Shego had run off after we crashed the Grand Canyon lair."

"Grand….Canyon," Kim frowned, feeling a serious case of déjà vu.

"Yeah. You know, where Ron and I had our brains switched, or whatever. We were fighting Drakken, and then they bailed when the army were about to show up. Leaving us tied to a post while the place was about to blow. I remember Private Dobbs freed us, and we were about to try using the Kimmunicator to run the brain-switch machine before the place blew….."

"And," Kim asked quietly, remembering that one all too well. It had been a very disconcerting week walking around as Ron Stoppable.

Even more disconcerting was the knowledge that Ron had walked around all week in her body. One that seriously needed a shower because he had been terrified at taking his, or rather, her clothes off to wash.

How he managed the restroom was something she had never dared ask.

"That's it. We were about to try the Kimmunicator battery, and then…..nothing. I woke up in that cell, in Shego's body," the apparent Anne said with a look that was very genuinely miserable.

"That could be a clue," Kim told her.

"Look, if anyone finds out I'm here before I can prove…."

"No one knows you're here except Wade," Kim assured her.

"Open up," a familiar voice shouted even as someone pounded on the door, and Kim groaned. "I know you're in there, Shego! Kimberly, are you all right?"

"And her," Kim sighed as Anne leapt to her feet, and looked around anxiously.

"Her," Shego frowned.

"Dr. Director?"

"I am not going…..!"

"Hey. Hey, Anne. Anne," Kim rose to her feet, using her cane now to move to stand in front of her. "Calm down. Okay? Calm down. You haven't committed a crime. You aren't wanted so far as I know beyond some very suspicious military types who don't have a credible story. I'm with you. So trust me. Okay?"

Shego stared at her uneasily, and it was a look Kim had never seen in those eyes. The woman was terrified.

She realized she didn't like it.

"Trust me," Kim told her. "I'll talk to Betty…."

"That woman is so by the book she likely won't even listen…..!"

"Do you remember meeting her?"

"I….. I….. I don't think so. But I've heard about her! And Global Justice," Shego all but whimpered.

Definitely not like Shego would have reacted.

"Trust me. Sit down, eat, and I'll go let Betty in so we can talk. Talk," Kim promised her. "Just that."

"If you're sure," Shego said uneasily as she slowly sat down. Then glanced at her cane.

"So, Professor Dementor actually tried to kill you?"

"Oh, he didn't try," Kim said somberly as she headed for the door. "He very nearly succeeded. Ron, and the Tweebs saved me that day. That freak has been hiding since, though. Lucky for him he's managed to stay hidden," Kim said with a glitter in her eye.

"Whoa," Shego murmured.

"I won't be a minute," Kim told her, and limped toward the door.

Kim opened the door, and stared at the woman with five men behind her.

"Okay, the boys can relax. And stay outside," she said firmly. "You can come inside. We need to talk."

"Kim, we spotted Shego in the area. We know she got inside your….."

"She is, and she isn't. Curious?"

Betty frowned.

"Explain."

"She looks like Shego. Sounds like Shego. Only she's convinced beyond all doubt that she's _me_," Kim told her.

Betty's mouth opened, but the woman said nothing as she closed it, then shook her head.

"Are you sure she's not playing a game?"

"You have to hear her yourself. FYI, she's told me the army was trying to kill her, rather than let her escape. So, let's not call them. Because I promised dad not to switch on the auto-defenses without him here."

Betty, who knew who had built those defenses, had the sense to shudder.

"Well, we wouldn't want you to break any promises, Kimberly. So," she said, gesturing to her men to stand-by, "She actually thinks…..?"

"She claims her last memory was of trying to face down Drakken after he took the Neutronalizer."

"That was almost ten years ago."

"I know. She remembers when we about to try to get switched back, which I did, and her next memory is that of waking up in military custody. Just before she broke out."

Dr. Director's expression turned somber now as she eyed Kim.

"Very curious. Let me talk to her."

"Just…..go easy. She's actually scared, and while she looks like Shego, she isn't acting like her. So let's not set her off, because she still has….."

"Comet power?"

"Oh, yeah," Kim nodded, recalling those glowing fists raised before her just before Shego had passed out earlier.

"Let me see her."

"This way. I'm trying to get her to eat. She's skinny as a…"

"Shego," Dr. Director murmured, walking into the kitchen of Kim's apartment to stare at the woman in dirty sweats.

She was so atypically dressed, her usually perfectly groomed hair a mess, that even Dr. Director would have thought something was wrong without Kim to warn her.

"You've let yourself go," she remarked dryly as Shego stared at her with a confused expression.

"You're….Dr. Director?"

"I am."

"I thought you'd be taller," Shego remarked. "I mean, all the stories I've heard about you….."

"You do know we've met many times in the past, Shego," Dr. Director declared firmly as she walked over to stand on the far side of the table.

"I'm not Shego," Shego told her evenly, and took a bite of the still steaming oatmeal that looked like paste to Dr. Director.

"What are you eating?"

"Instant oatmeal," Kim, the redheaded one, sighed.

Dr. Director gave her a grim scowl.

"I knew they shouldn't have left you alone when they all took off this month."

"I'm doing all right," Kim sputtered.

"I wager all you've eaten is instant meals, and take-out, too," she declared.

"I'm not that….."

"Sit. I'll make something. You're right, she is overly thin. And while I cook, you can talk. Tell me everything," Dr. Director ordered Shego.

Shego stared at her, and looked up at Kim, and shrugged.

"Like I already told…..her," Shego gestured to Kim, "I came here because I thought Shego had traded places with me. Because from all I do remember, _I'm_ Kim Possible."

Dr. Director paused as she looked back from the ice box where she was studying the contents, and eyed Shego without batting an eye.

"Convince me," she said.

_To Be Continued…_


	4. Chapter 4

_I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Stranger In The Mirror**

**By LJ58**

**4**

"You wanted to see me, sir," the balding man in a white coat asked as he walked into a Spartan office bracketed by two men in uniform.

Eugene Hardgrave looked up from his paperwork, and eyed the man.

"We have a problem. I'm told you're the only one left alive that can potentially help solve it."

"I don't do R&D any longer, General Hardgrave," the man told him. "I'm in bio-genetics, and work as a medical doctor now. Not….."

"Let me finish," the stocky man with a silvery crew-cut snapped curtly.

"Sorry, sir. Please, go on," the scientist nodded.

"We have a serious snafu in play," the commanding officer finally said after eyeing him a few minutes. Obviously studying him with a scrutiny Dr. William Mangle had not seen in many of late. This man was a hardliner, he knew at once, but he wasn't sure just what cause he was pushing.

Yet.

"I'm not sure how I….."

"Operation _Janus_ is loose."

William felt his own words choke off as he had a flash of memory, and he audibly groaned.

"You remember it?"

"I warned Flagg it was a stupid idea. It didn't work the way he envisioned, because it couldn't work. The man was adamant, though, and pushed ahead with his…..more avaricious researchers. In the end, I heard they buried it as a failure. I don't know how, but….."

"The host subject has been in cryogenic suspension for just over six years," Hardgrave told him curtly. "I'll tell you the rest, after you tell me just _what the hell _you people where trying to do. Because I need to know just how badly this is going to hit the fan since the subject managed to completely slip past all our cordons."

William grimaced again.

"All I can tell you is my role in the early stages. Recall the Neutronalizer built by Dr. Starke about ten years ago?"

"I recall it almost sent us into the Dark Ages when the last idiot in the White House tried to use it to extort Russia into playing his trade games," Hardgrave huffed. "We were lucky it malfunctioned, and exploded before it did."

"Yes. Well, not long after it was built, a certain….felon stole the device, intending to blackmail the whole world with it."

"How did he even manage to get….?"

"I cannot imagine. I do know, when we recovered the device, we found a cerebral digitizing sequencer at the same location. It was badly damaged, but it was obvious the synaptic recordins were still….."

"In English, Dr. Mangle," Eugene Hardgrave scowled.

"A brain-switch machine," he sighed. "Now, before you say anything, obviously you cannot literally switch brains. What you can do, however, is digitize the conscious mind, and transfer it to a new host body. In essence, literally overwriting the conscious mind and memories of the host in favor of the new program."

"I see. So, someone tried to….reprogram this Shego."

"Yes," William sighed.

"How? Because I can't get anything out of the C.O. who was running the defunct holding center except backtalk," the senior officer scowled. "So tell me something to put me on top before I have to go down there, and personally kick that shavetail's backside."

"Right. Well, I do know when we salvaged the digiti…. The brain-switcher," William amended when the general's eyes started to narrow on him. "We found a partial program still loaded in the undamaged core of the device. It didn't take long to figure out we had a virtual digital blueprint of Kim Possible's conscious mind. She's the one who recovered the Neutronalizer, by the way."

"I think I recall that now," Eugene murmured thoughtfully. "Go on."

"Someone had the bright idea of studying it. At the time, I was on the project. For several years, we made incredible leaps into the study of the conscious mind based on the digital download."

"And….?"

"And then your predecessor decided to use Shego, and Miss Possible's digital mind to create a super-weapon. At the time, Shego had just helped the woman save the world from the Lorwardians."

"I remember that one all too clearly," Hardgrave grimaced.

"Yes, well, General Flagg thought that if he made Shego a mental duplicate of Kim Possible, one he conditioned to obey him, he could create a super-weapon that would serve our nation. He also felt that Possible's moral code would keep the felon from turning on us again, which he was sure she would."

"Admirable motivation, but I suspect from your tone that you argued from the start. Why?"

"As I said. The overlay is purely conscious, sir," William told him. "Any student of the mind knows that the majority of the brain's work is involuntary, and subconscious. Now, the host might function for a time with the conscious overlay without issue. Long-term? All our theories suggested that forcing another personality into an already active mind would create….."

"A psychopath," Eugene frowned.

"At the least. It's still uncharted territory, of course, but the truth is, we weren't sure what might happen. General Flagg felt his addendum to her mental conditioning would overcome any issues. Recall, at the time all he saw was his super-weapon," William said in disgust.

"So, they failed, and had to put her into cryo," Eugene frowned.

"Actually, only part of the experiment failed. You see, we had managed to download the Possible imprint into Shego's brain."

"Okay. Then explain how she would have broken out, after kicking the snot out of a platoon of trained men without breaking a sweat?"

"Because, the secondary conditioning wouldn't take. We don't know if the willfulness was from Possible's own conscious mind, or from Shego's own subconscious, but she refused to listen to orders. Any orders. General Flagg was less than understanding when we couldn't find a solution. I didn't know they put her in cryo. I was booted about that time for failing him, and didn't know what happened afterward. It was about then I decided to keep my work in the medical field, and away from the….."

"Megalomaniacs," General Hardgrave suggested. "We do know what you think of R&D here, Dr. Mangle. Still, we need your help. As I said, Shego has thawed out. Frankly, the facility was all but shut down anyway, after the last budget cuts, and no one even realized she was still there. Until she came out of stasis, and broke through a steel door that exposed a bunker our current staff didn't even realize was in there."

"I see. And then what happened?"

"The effort apparent tapped her, from the lieutenant's report, and they put her in a special containment cell for initial observation. She was inside for three days when she woke up, and strangely enough, began demanding to speak to Dr. Director, from Global Justice."

"I suspect she was ignored?"

"Naturally. We didn't realize what Janus was about at the time. All we knew is that Shego had come out of nowhere in the heart of a near defunct facility. We weren't letting her go anywhere until we knew exactly what was happening. Unfortunately, we didn't get wind of the old project until someone thought to finally sift the records in the old bunker."

William resisted the urge, hard as it was, to comment on military intelligence.

"And, then?"

"By then, she had broken out, and disappeared. We haven't been able to find out where she's gone, or what she's planning. And from what you say, we have a ticking, comet-powered _time-bomb_ out there that is due to go off at any time."

"Theoretically….."

"Just tell me something I can use. You said you had successfully implanted Kim Possible's memories?"

"Yes," William nodded.

"But you couldn't control her?"

"She was convinced she _was_ Kim Possible, and kept trying to go home. She wouldn't take the tailored conditioning, as I told you," Dr. Mangle nodded.

"Tell me something, Dr. Mangle," the officer asked. "What are the odds that the woman is still operating under the belief that she _is_ Kim Possible?"

William frowned.

"Considering the principles of the machine we found, and restored, I would have to say….pretty high," he admitted.

"Then she'll be trying to get to Middleton," the general nodded curtly, and stabbed his intercom. "Corporal, alert the local Guard units in the Middleon area. The Omega target is likely en route, or possibly already on site. They are to quarantine the area, and declare martial law. We will lock down the city, and if need be, the state, until we have her back. One way, or another."

"General, I'm not sure if that's a good idea," William said with a look of alarm.

"We are still dealing with a potentially dangerous felon, doctor," the stocky soldier snapped. "One you just admitted might be more than dangerous."

"Or she might just be trying to get home, or what she thinks is home, to understand what happened to her. But that isn't my concern."

"No?"

"No. You close in on Middleton like an invading army, and you're overlooking something else. Or someone else."

"What do you mean?"

"Team Possible," he said grimly. "Recall, they do still operate out of Middleton…."

"I heard Possible retired after that dwarf almost killed her," the general sniffed. "I doubt she's going to be an issue."

"Then you obviously don't know how Team Possible works. I've read between the lines, sir. They have a small army out there, and they're directly affiliated with Global Justice these days."

"Director," Hardgrave grumbled, already having dodged more than a few calls from her of late. "Just tell me one thing, Dr. Mangle."

"Sir?"

"How would you handle this? Because, frankly, I'm thinking special ops, or a drone just now. If that woman loses control on our own soil…"

"She did just wake up. I doubt the psychic stresses will be that great just yet. I projected….three to five weeks for a mental break. So, if we can get to her first, we could conceivably remove the alien imprint from her mind, and that should solve…."

"That solves _nothing._ It only frees the woman to continue her criminal activity. No, I think we'll go with my plan. A bullet will solve all our problems," Hardgrave snapped. "Corporal," he barked at his intercom. "You have your orders. Get the Guard in place, and call in Team Gamma."

William shook his head.

"If that's all…..?"

"Go. You've been more than helpful," the general waved his dismissal.

"I doubt that," he glared at him over his shoulder as he left the office, his bookends ensuring he didn't dawdle.

William Mangle was marched to the exit, and one of the soldiers nodded at the other, and said, "I'll see the doctor leaves the premises without causing any trouble," the tall, lean soldier in a perfectly groomed uniform told his companion. "Let's go," he nodded his head curtly to William once they stepped though the door.

"My car is….."

"Likely going to explode the moment you turn the key, Dr. Mangle," the young soldier told him. "Hardgrave is notorious for scorching earth when he wants to bury his secrets. I suggest you come with me."

"But….don't you work for….?"

The soldier pulled out a key chain from his inner pocket, and clicked it. Just to one side of the trees, a door opened in the air that suggested a cloaked vehicle was parked there.

"I'm Commander William Du, doctor. Global Justice. As I said, I strongly suggest you come with me. If you want to live."

**KP**

Betty sat watching Shego finish the steak, eggs, and biscuits she had cooked with a faint smile.

The woman had always had the appetite of a dozen normal people. Little wonder she was so thin if she had been trying to eat like Kimberly. She could tell that Shego was definitely in there, though. The little tics she spotted. The anxiousness over being in the presence of her primary jailer for so long was obviously starting to take a toll, even if neither woman saw it.

Unlike Kim, or Shego, Betty was used to spotting certain tells, though.

Shego might think she was Kim, somehow, but she was very definitely still Shego under that veneer of civility. Sooner or later, she knew, that veneer was going to rip, and when it did, Dr. Director wasn't altogether sure of just what might happen next.

She did know that the military wasn't going to sit around quietly after losing what was obviously some kind of mind-control experiment, though. She was very good at putting pieces together, and just now, they were the only pieces that made sense.

"Kimberly," she told the redhead after a moment, "Call your Team back in. You're going to need them."

"But…..?"

"This is likely bigger than either of us realize. Especially if the Pentagon is involved. Now, you tell me, what did they do the last time a rogue scientist exposed an unethical experiment?"

Kim scowled.

"But they fired that guy. He….."

"Figureheads don't change policy. You can bet something else is going on we don't yet see. I suspect it won't be long before the military is on her trail, and while they're slow, they aren't all incompetent. How long before they figure out that Shego came here for help? You tell me. Then what?"

Kim grimaced.

"Looks like I'm activating those auto-defenses after all," she said even as the PDA on Betty's belt buzzed.

"Report," she snapped.

"It's as bad as we thought," Will Du's voice spoke loudly and clearly as Kim listened. "The Pentagon apparently tried to turn Shego into a weapon by downloading Possible's brain into her head prior to some form of mind-control. Only they still couldn't control her….."

"Duh," Kim and Shego both quipped, making Betty eye them with an arched brow.

"Go on, Commander Du."

"I have one of the primary scientists involved inbound with me. They just blew up his car, and currently think he was inside it. They are also definitely moving to sanction Shego, and anyone else involved. Along with the entire town of Middleton, if necessary. They think Shego might…..explode, in both senses of the word. Either way, they don't want her blowing certain whistles on certain parites."

"Self-righteous….. I knew Hardgrave was lying to me. I knew it," Betty spat, and eyed the small image of her agent on her PDA.

"You say you have one of their people," Kim asked.

"Go ahead," Betty nodded at him when he paused.

"Dr. William Mangle. A chief bio-geneticist on the project that apparently recovered a computer core with part of Kimberly Possible's brain still in the core. That's how they tried to control Shego, by using it to try to turn her into a conscientious citizen they thought they could program to their liking."

"Mind-control," Shego murmured softly. Darkly. Her left eye twitching. "Why is it _always_ mind-control with these freaks? Wait," she sputtered in the same instant. "Wait, are you saying…..? I'm _really_ Shego? I just have….?"

She eyed Kim.

"I have your….memories, but…..I'm not really…..?"

Kim shook her head.

"I remember that machine," Kim told her gently. "It wasn't much fun living in someone else's body. I can only imagine how this must be for _you….Anne,_ but we won't let them get away with this."

"Agent Du, you can bet they'll be cutting Middleton off soon. Get our own people in place, and I want a full strike team back in Billings to backtrack Shego, and find where she was being held."

"I could tell you that," Shego told her. "It's under a Radon Industries building, and you have to take a secret elevator in a broom closet to get to the cell where I was locked up."

"Sounds like a lead, Commander Du. Get Agent Sands….."

The PDA suddenly went blank.

"Will?"

Kim jumped up, and walked to the window. Looking outside, she grimaced.

"They're here," she said as the sounds of tanks coming closer began to fill the air.

A lot of tanks.

_To Be Continued…_


	5. Chapter 5

_I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Stranger In The Mirror**

**By LJ58**

**5**

"Are those tanks? Real tanks," Shego, still finding it hard to believe that she was not the real, and original Kim, exclaimed. "In Middleton?"

"Back," Kim shoved her back from the window where she had come over to look out herself as Kim stood there gaping. "We can't let them see you," she said as men in trucks dragging huge lights now began setting up a perimeter around Team Possible's headquarters.

"Kimberly," Dr. Director said.

"No time. Follow me," she said as she lifted her wrist even as she walked over to the far wall. "Wade," she greeted the sleepy young man. "We have a sitch."

"Another one? At three in the….. Kim! Why is the National Guard cutting Middleton off from the main roads?"

"I have an idea. But we need to call everyone in, and get ready. I think they're after Shego."

"Shego," the young man sputtered as Kim turned her wrist Kimmunicator she still wore to let him see her, and Dr. Director. "Why does the army want Shego?"

"Well, we're not exactly alone."

"Dr. Director, too?"

"FYI, the short version is Shego was held by the army's think-tank, and someone put a copy of my brain into her head. She still thinks she's _me_. Only from what we just heard from Du before he was cut off when they cut local communications, that they intend to kill her, if they can't take her back."

"I'm on it. Give me two."

Kim meanwhile, opened a closet, and gestured them inside.

"A…..closet," Shego frowned. "How is hiding in a closet going to…?"

She gasped as the closet dropped like a stone the moment Kim closed the door. An instant later, she stepped out of the door she reopened into a wide, command center filled with computers and electronics.

"ANI," she called. "Activate all defense protocols. And put Wade on the main screen."

"Annie," Shego frowned.

"ANI," Kim smiled. "Autonomous Neural Interface. Our AI that runs the headquarters. Welcome to Team Possible's real HQ," she told her.

"Whoa," Shego murmured, looking around. "This is….. Whoa!"

"The Tweebs helped build it, believe it, or not," she grinned.

"Jim? And Tim? And it didn't blow up?"

"It's been years since they blew anything up," Kim told her.

Dr. Director snorted at that.

"Well, anything accidental," Kim sighed. "Now, if they're aiming at you….."

"Demenz is hiding for a reason," Dr. Director nodded at Shego.

"Right. So, they're more dangerous than I remember….? I mean….."

"Don't worry, we understand," Kim told her. "Have a seat. I just need to get with Wade on something, and then we'll figure out our next move."

"Already on it," Wade declared even as his dark visage filled the central monitor. "I have Commander Du back online. He's just filled me on everything Dr. Mangle told him."

"Mangle," Betty murmured darkly. "I knew I should have never let him go."

"You know him," Kim turned to her when a balding man in a white lab coat was spotted in the image behind Will on the secondary monitor to her right.

"William Mangle. A certified genius. When it comes to things of the mind. He helped us with a lot of Lipski's more dangerous work."

"That's probably why they brought him in on the Janus Project," Wade nodded.

"I concur," Will nodded, obviously now in the loop. "I'm coming in on stealth, Dr. Director. It looks like the local Guard is backed up by very real military units, and the city has been completely cut off already."

"The regular army isn't supposed to operate like that," Kim sputtered.

"I'm sure they'd listen to your complaints. If you can get anyone to take your call," Dr. Director stated blandly. Too blandly for her liking.

"I've contacted your family, Kim, and Felix. Only I can't find Ron just now. You know how that is with him," he said, eyeing Shego briefly.

"Understood. Keep trying. We may need him."

"Understood. Meanwhile, what are you planning next?"

"Something occurred to me. If they had my mind copied in some kind of computer to put into Shego's head," she told him. "Then they may still have it. Find it. And delete it," she told her. "But make sure if they have Shego's mind saved first. Maybe we can just….put her back in the driver's seat that way."

"I'll look into it. Dr. Mangle mentioned Radon Industries. It might interest you, Dr. Director, to know it's run by Marion Hench. Jack's ex-wife," Wade added pointedly.

Dr. Director groaned now, not missing Shego's confused expression.

"Why would Jack be connected to the U.S. Army," Kim exclaimed.

"Who is Jack Hench," Shego asked innocently.

Everyone eyed her.

"Her memories apparently stop at the point I was about to get my body back," Kim told them. "She still has issues with certain memories. Remember the Neutronalizer?"

"Oh. That thing," Wade sniffed.

Only a very few people knew that it was he who had sabotaged the device just before a former President had almost blown out every power grid in the world by trying to use it on his enemies. The man thought he could look tough by standing up to a potential second Cold War before it began by using the untested device. He had also refused to listen to anyone when he had the old weapon brought out of storage to wave it like a proverbial saber.

"Right," Kim nodded. "Okay, Wade, get on that one, and let us know what you find. I've got the HQ locked down for now, but until the Team gets back, I can't do much."

"And get me a line to my regional headquarters," Betty Director added. "No way can this kind of action be legal. Or justified."

"Right," he nodded. "Maybe it's time to show you the boys' new present they built for you. It's almost finished with the testing anyway, but you might need it if they get serious out there."

"I am guessing they will," Kim admitted as a monitor picked up an ultimatum from someone in uniform that dared approach the now locked front doors of the apartment building.

Other monitors showed soldiers flushing people from their homes in the nearby buildings built near their own. They were also obviously searched the places as they tightened a ring around her building now. Many of the tanks, she noticed, were also lifting turrets to take aim on her home.

"Did someone declare war, and forget to tell us," a voice quipped from behind them.

"Boys," Kim grinned, looking back to see the twins walking into the command center from an open hatch on the far side of the room. "You guys made good time."

"We were already on our way back," the lanky teen she knew was Tim shrugged. "The convention was boring. Those guys were still talking about modular construction," he huffed.

"They didn't have a clue about micro-nannites, or how to infuse hypertronic command signals into a bot," Jim added.

"Uh, say what," Shego frowned, looking at them, still remembering small boys, not nearly grown men.

"She's a little behind the times," Kim told them as they both sniggered at the green-skinned woman who looked more than confused.

"We heard," Jim nodded. "We were listening in on our way down."

"But it was her outfit that has us smirking. She dresses worse than you used to dress," Tim smirked.

"Hey," both women sputtered at that one.

"Never mind," Wade cut in again. "Guys, I was about to suggest Kim try out your new prototype."

"Prototype," Kim frowned.

The teens grinned as they high-fived one another.

"You're going to love it," they declared as Tim went to a far console, and began to power it up. Prepare to become DED."

"What," Kim sputtered loudly, gaping at him.

"Not what you think," Jim laughed. "D-E-D. Digitially Enhanced Driver Tech. We took our AI to the next level, and built a body for her use when necessary. Only then, we thought, why not build one for you? One you can drive by just thinking at it once you link with it with a special wireless frequency that matches your own brainwaves."

"Driver Tech," Kim frowned as Jim walked over, and put what seemed an ordinary earpiece in her hand.

"Put it in either ear. That's all it takes."

"Warming up. Initializing," Tim reported as a whine began to grow from behind a panel to Kim's left.

A panel she knew that led to a loading lift that went to the labs.

"Uh, what is this," Kim frowned, putting the device in her left ear.

"Just say, KP1, activate," Tim instructed.

"Okay. KP1.…activate," the redhead murmured.

"Whoa," Shego murmured again as a ocular visor emerged as if by tech-magic to cover Kim's left eye.

"Just let it link, and you'll be able to see and hear through the DED armor," Tim told her.

"The….. What armor," she sputtered.

"Ta-dah," they pointed as a monitor in the hangar came on, and showed a six-five robotic figure stomping across the deck toward the main exit.

It was lean, sleek, but looked almost menacing with the metallic scowl cut into the faceplate.

"Is that….?"

"Hypertronic construction," the boys grinned. "You just have to think, and it does. Movement. Simulated speech, and even weapons."

"Weapons," Kim asked curiously.

"Nothing big. Just like the HQ, we built in laser turrets, stun grenades, plasma bursts, or….if necessary, lethal ordinance," Jim told her. "We didn't build our DED armor to play."

Kim eyed the monitor, and felt the eerie sensation of seeing from its optics as the construct marched to the lift that would carry it topside. The TP logo on the chest plate made it very clear what it represented, but the boys were right. They had come a long way from chasing madmen like Drakken or Killigan over the years. Some of their felons would not stop to kill, and kill in massive numbers.

Sometimes, you had use more force that Kim once considered necessary.

"I like it," Kim smiled, and almost 'felt' the movements as if they were own, which were prompted simply by her thoughts. "How fluid…..?"

"It can do anything you could," Jim grinned. "Of course, it can do it faster, and better. And with style," he chortled.

"Guys, this is awesome….."

"Kimberly, they are finished making demands, and now trying to smash in the front door. Permission to counter?"

"Shock treatment," Tim barked back at ANI.

"Do it," Kim agreed. "Nothing lethal, yet."

"Electrifying all barricades, and entry points," ANI reported even as the monitors showed soldiers recoiling, and even falling to writhe in pain outside the building.

"Going to go up," Tim asked as he noted the armor had stopped in the lift that led to the surface.

"First, we see what they are going to do next."

"I think we know," Betty told her as she put away her PDA even as a tank now turned its turret to directly target the front door.

"Primary shields," Kim shouted.

The explosive blast sent reverberations through the building even at their depth, but the door was untouched.

Men outside were scorched, and several too close to the door were looking far worse for wear after the thunderous backlash that ricocheted off their protective shielding as medics rushed forward.

Meanwhile, two men were bringing in some kind of heavy, canvas bag trailing wires.

"They're trying a controlled EMP bomb now," Tim laughed.

"Predictable," Jim huffed.

"Won't that hurt us," Shego/Kim asked. "I mean, that shuts down everything. Right?"

"Not if you have the right shielding," Betty replied for the Possibles as Kim now reached out, seemed to press something in the air before her only she could see, and the whine of a lift sounded where the android armor had disappeared.

"ANI," Kim said as she stared at the monitors, tracking the soldiers, and the robot at the same time. "Give me an outside speaker."

"Communications open," the AI reported in the same instant.

Kim eyed the monitors, and focused on the man standing back behind two armored jeeps with mounted cannons in the rear. She wasn't too surprised the monitors were clear enough she could read Captain Sawyer's nametag on his chest.

"Captain Sawyer," she addressed him personally, knowing well the speakers up top would be very clear, and very recognizable. "This is Kim Possible. Why are you attacking my home?"

The man glared, then looked to his left. Then his right. Then looked at the front doors again.

"Just answer me, please, sir. I can hear you."

"You are harboring a dangerous fugitive, and you might be…..contaminated by her presence. I am ordering you in the name of the President to stand down, and let us bring you all in for debriefing."

"And Shego?"

"Will be returned to our custody," the man replied without hesitation.

"Dead, or alive," Kim demanded.

The man didn't answer.

"One last question. How far are you prepared to go here? Because you should be aware that the head of Global Justice is here with me, and by now, her people are very upset you've attacked her. Very upset."

The man looked even more grim, but said nothing.

"That, however, isn't your major concern."

"No," the officer quipped.

"No. I am. You used my digital memory to hurt an innocent woman….."

"Innocent," the man sputtered. "Possible, you have no idea how dangerous…."

"Innocent," Kim stressed. "Now, I'm not sure the right people know what you're up to here, but I know one thing."

"What is that," the officer demanded.

"You're in way over your head," the six-five robot finished as it stepped from behind the panel near the front door that slid open just then. "All our defenses just targeted your tanks, and vehicles. You have five minutes to evacuate," she told him through the stomping juggernaut headed for the center ranks. "Then we retaliate."

The captain barely had time to note the humming sound as the window shutters suddenly blossomed with small turrets, making the building suddenly look not unlike a fortress. A very dangerous one.

He eyed the massive robot stomping his way, and shouted, "Fire all guns!"

The robot started to run. Toward him.

_To Be Continued….._


	6. Chapter 6

_I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Stranger In The Mirror**

**By LJ58**

**6**

She sat back, watching the monitors, watching the redhead operate a remote-controlled robot that somehow did what her brain told it to do.

She was still sure that part of her was convinced that she, and only she, was Kim Possible.

Only what seemed to make sense was fast unraveling.

No one noticed any unheroic behavior from the redhead she had first thought was Shego, who had taken over her body.

No one doubted her in the slightest. Even her enemies were convinced if Dementor had actually tried to kill her for real, and good. No surprise that she had not gone down easily, though. Kim Possible was tougher than anyone had ever realized. Then, or apparently now.

She was still somewhat sure that she, and only she, was Kim Possible.

But the evidence was mounting, and it was not in her favor.

Especially with an army so intent on grabbing her again that they didn't care if they declared war on their own citizens.

She watched a tank fire, and the robot ducked it like one of those cartoon speedsters. Then the bit robot was pulling the thick barrel down, bending it like a child's straw as the other Kim Possible just stood there in the middle of the control chamber of Team Possible, smiling like a predator as she glanced from one monitor to another as she now let actions speak for her after the officer out there tried to call her bluff.

Only Kim Possible wasn't bluffing.

She watched that robot tear through the armored Guard division as if they were untrained schoolboys, bullets, and men no match for the whirling metal beast she had just unleashed even as the twins' laser cannons now selectively disabled tanks, and vehicles that might yet pose a threat before Kim could get to them.

The redheaded Kim.

Still, watching them, the whole sitch felt…..wrong.

"This…. This isn't how I… How you…. This is not right," Shego sputtered as she rose from her seat now, shaking her head.

Dr. Director walked over to her, and stared sternly into her confused expression.

"Shego," she snapped. "Look at me. Look. At. Me. Not Kimberly. Not the boys. Not anything else going on. Look at me."

Shego fixed her eyes on the woman.

"I don't know what is going on inside your head. I can't know. I do know this, though. And somewhere deep inside, I think you do, too. That," she pointed at Kim. "Is Kimberly Anne Possible. Yes, the woman you think you are just now. Only she grew up. She faced challenges, and trials you cannot even imagine just now, but she grew up, and she beat them. All of them."

Shego was still slowly shaking her head.

"So did you," Dr. Director added.

"But…."

"So did you," the head of Global Justice nodded firmly. "You, Shego, were, and are a headstrong, irritating woman at the best of times. But you never quit either. You never backed down from a challenge, or a game. And more often than I cared, you came out on top. So listen to me," Dr. Director ordered. "Stop reacting. Start thinking. Think about all you've seen, and heard since you woke up. Think about what you do know, and what you feel. Inside. Because, whatever else has happened, I'm certain that you, the real you, is still there somewhere. Now, calm down, before you set off the damn sprinkler system."

Jim only then looked back, the young Possible's brows arching slightly as he noted a faint, green aura was surging all around the green-skinned woman's body just then. Not just her hands.

"She's right, you know," Jim tossed back over his shoulder before turning his attention back to his own monitors around whatever he was doing on that console. "The Shego we knew was a lot tougher. And a lot sassier."

"Definitely sassier," Tim Possible chortled. "I remember….."

"Tweebs," Kim growled, not even looking their way. "Not the time. We've got helicopters inbound."

"We know. Five aircraft coming in from the northeast. We don't want to just shoot them down, though," Tim huffed. "We're not evil."

"We're waiting until they're close enough to spike their navigational systems, and make them go down on their own," Jim nodded agreement with an unvoiced plan only they shared.

"Just make sure you don't take down my people. Or Will. They should be arriving any moment, too," Betty reminded them.

"Please," Tim huffed.

"Do you think we're amateurs," Jim demanded in the same instant.

Betty sighed, and looked at Shego.

"Do you see what I have to put up with," she faux complained to the green-skinned woman.

Shego shook her head violently for a moment, then put one hand up to her temple.

"You okay?"

"Headache. You would not believe the headache I have just now. Everything is just… It's just…. Wrong," Shego complained, whimpering in a tone very unlike any Dr. Director had ever heard from her.

"We'll make things right," Kim shot back without looking her way. "Trust me, it's what we do. It's what I still do. You'll be fine, so long as you keep yourself calm, and remember one thing."

"What's that," Shego asked quietly.

Kim's green eyes flashed as all three Possibles declared, "Anything is possible…..!"

Betty groaned.

"For a Possible," Shego murmured at the end. "But….am I really…..?"

"Right now, you are. And you were always my friend."

"F-Friend," Shego sputtered. "But…. I mean, I thought….."

"You're missing a lot of years," Dr. Director now risked putting a hand on Shego's shoulder. "Now, let's trust the masters of mayhem here to get us through this, and give us the time to find out just what is really going on. If they say they will help you, I've never seen them fail. Or quit."

"Oh," Shego murmured.

"Just like you," Betty added pointedly.

"Like….me," Shego murmured.

"Like you," Betty nodded firmly, echoing her.

"What about them," Shego waved haphazardly at the screen where the soldiers were still shouting, and trying to regroup around the robot that was scattering their smaller vehicles like child's toys.

"As if," Jim and Tim both laughed. "You didn't see their last performance at the so-called Border War. They run away from everyone!"

Kim grumbled, and Betty only sighed.

**KP**

"General Hardgrave," the gruff voice sounded over the phone as the man in the dark suit stood glaring at the screen where a too familiar woman with a missing eye was glaring at him as he stood behind his desk just then, waiting for the reply to his call.

"General? Secretary Karter."

"Yes, sir? What can I do for you?"

"What….? General, don't be an ass. You can tell me what the devil the Colorado National Guard is doing attacking Kim Possible in the middle of our own damn country! Especially with the head of the U.N. Security Council sitting right next to her!"

"What," Eugene sputtered.

"Fix this, Hardgrave, or your career is going to end faster than that damn _traitor_ we finally hung!"

"Elizabeth," the gray-haired man turned back to the computer monitor where the angry woman still glared. "You heard me. I'm as surprised as you are, and whatever is really going on, I promise you, I will get to the bottom of this. This kind of madness certainly did not come from my office, or _His_. There is no authorization to violate posse comitatus just now. So you should not worry about doing whatever is necessary to stop obviously rogue operations. You have our full faith, Elizabeth. You, and Team Possible. Just, try to keep….."

"We will keep you informed," she told him somberly.

"I was going to say, keep the damage to a minimum. Those Possible boys do have a reputation," he sighed.

Dr. Director didn't bat her eye at that as she glanced aside just before the screen went dark.

"Eugene," one of the most powerful men in the Federal government swore as he stared at the dark screen. "What the hell are you trying to do now?"

**KP**

"We're missing the whole picture here," Dr. Director told them after Will Du had literally snuck in the back door with his passenger to join her in the Possible command center.

"I have to agree. I never actually worked with General Hardgrave," Dr. Mangle admitted, "But I know when someone is hiding something. And I don't think it's just Shego's current status that has him worried."

"No, I doubt that, too," Dr. Director agreed as Kim eyed the monitors. Her robot now standing still in front of her home, the Guard troops now having pulled back over two blocks before trying to regroup again.

Without a single one of their vehicles.

The single, operational aircraft sat back behind the soldiers, even as more and more citizens were gathering to surround the area, too. More than a few of the media were there, too, but the communications frequencies were still being jammed.

Not, however, their own.

"We have three strike teams inbound, and they should be here inside of ten minutes," Dr. Director said as she glanced over at Shego. "Our people have not reported back from Montana, so I'm wondering if they haven't found anything, or if….."

"They're in trouble," Will asked.

"Exactly," she nodded.

"Well, if this is an operation related to Henchco," Tim began.

"Henchco," Shego sputtered. "They actually call themselves…..?"

"You don't remember that," Will asked.

"I rather doubt she remembers anything, except for the memories implanted into her conscious mind," Dr. Mangle pointed out. "As I was saying, though, there is still a significant potential she could….."

"Bull," Kim grit out, only then turning form her station at the monitor.

"Miss Possible, I know you like to consider yourself….."

"Listen, Mangle," she cut him off. "I've known my share of experts, and they've all had the same blindness when it comes to reality, or people. Well, I know Shego. I've known her longer, and better, than you, or any of your loopy peers. The Shego I know may be a smart-mouthed, irritating, thorn in a lot of sides, but she would never, ever, lose control of herself like you're suggesting. She's too good to go out like that."

Shego gaped at her, and felt a surge of pride that the redheaded Kimberly could speak so earnestly about…..her.

"Wow," the green-skinned woman smiled. "You make it sound like….."

Kim abruptly blushed, then shook her head.

"We're friends, Shego. Even at your worst, we were always friends. I don't forget my friends. One way, or another, we're going to help you find yourself. And I don't, for a single instant, believe you're going to self-destruct just because they messed with your mind."

"Kimberly," Dr. Director frowned.

"Look, Betty, remember all the times Drew pulled that one on her? Did she ever lose control then? Did she ever really explode? I mean, you know, aside from her usual temper?"

"Usual….temper," Shego murmured, still looking, and sounding lost.

"You had….have a temper," Kim smiled. "But usually it was aimed at something that frustrated you. Like Drew, or sometimes me. Mostly, though, I think you always just wanted to have fun. To challenge yourself."

"You make her….me…..sound…..immature," Shego scowled.

"You were," Betty spat.

"No. She was just….unique. You didn't want to settle. You wanted to prove you were more than what people saw. Better than those that once mocked you," Kim told her. "And you were. When you disappeared, even I thought you had finally found some kind of peace in your life. I didn't realize….. You were in trouble. If I had known….."

Shego stared at her.

"I would have found you. I would have helped. I know now, so don't worry. You are with friends," Kim told her firmly.

"Friends," Shego shook her head again. "This is all….so confusing."

No one commented.

"Will, try to sneak back out of here, and get Mangle back to our HQ for a proper debriefing. This is not over," Betty told him "Not yet."

Will Du simply nodded, and turned back the way he had come as he gestured for the flustered scientist to follow him.

**KP**

Not far from the Team Possible apartment building, a growing crowd circled the retreating Guard unit, kept at bay by others who were also present, and helping shut off the town from the rest of the main highways.

In the forefront, a stylishly dressed blonde who looked perfectly groomed despite the early hour stood between the soldiers, and the crowd, and held a microphone before her.

"…..am Lisa Todd from CHTR News, and if you can believe it, the reports we have been hearing are true. Our very own Colorado National Guard has declared war on Middleton! I am standing not a quarter mile from Team Possible building, where the local Guard has apparently opened fire on our local heroes, and is attempting to….."

"Shut those cameras off, woman," a man wearing lieutenant's bars shouted. "You can't broadcast anyway."

"Not true, G.I. Jerk," a scruffy man holding a portable camera grinned hugely. "You guys might have shut down satellite feed, and the standard frequencies, but you're old school. You forgot the internet, and we are live, _and_ global!"

"That's right, Lt…..Harding," she grinned at the groaning man as she read his name tag. "So, do you have a comment on why the army is attempting to attack, illegally, U.S. citizens on their own soil?"

"Shut them down," the lieutenant shouted, the crowd starting to murmur more and more as the soldiers moved toward the reporter.

"Lt. Harding, was martial law declared? Did the President, or Governor discovered some unknown threat? How do you justify this operation? Why are you attempting to overrun…..?"

Lisa Todd stood back from where the soldier had grabbed her mike, and tossed it down to stomp on it.

"We're still rolling," she smiled sweetly as she jerked a thumb back at her cameraman. Who was not the only one holding up a camera.

There were also dozens of cell phones.

"I'd say you're about to be famous, _Comrade,"_ she continued to beam. "Anything you'd like to say to the nation? Or the world?

The lieutenant just glared, then turned, and snapped, "Get me the captain!"

"Would he like to make a statement," Lisa shouted after him, snatching up her battered, but still operational microphone, and taking a daring step toward the officer.

Three men with raised weapons kept her from taking another.

Meanwhile, the crowd began to grow more surly as the sounds of weapons, and cannon fire filled the air, making them shout angrily rather than flee.

"Why aren't they running away," one soldier asked another as the sounds of battle actually grew louder behind them.

He couldn't help but look more than nervous as he heard those sounds himself.

"This is Middleton," the other soldier said quietly. "This town is _not_ normal."

"Lt. Harding, this is still America! We demand answers," Lisa shouted over the sounds.

The crowd roared approval.

_To Be Continued…._


	7. Chapter 7

_I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Stranger In The Mirror**

**By LJ58**

**7**

"You heard me," Governor Samuel Jordan, III all but shouted over his phone. "I don't care if the man is conferring with God Himself. You get the President on this line, and explain to me why someone activated my own Guard troops, and used them to attack one of my cities!"

He listened for another second, then acted as if he were about to throw the phone for a moment before he recovered from his rush of temper.

"Are you insane? It's all over the media! The Liberals are having a field day with this one, and it doesn't help some kid is running footage of the army, my Guard, getting their butts kicked all over the block by Kim Possible's robot! Now, wake the man up! We need answers, and yesterday!"

Samuel clutched the phone as he, the governor of a free state in America, was put on hold.

"I am beginning to loathe politics," he told his aide, who had woken him with an emergency just fifteen minutes ago.

Of all the things he could have imagined, it was not this. To think someone had activated his own Guard, reinforced them with regular army, and then moved on an American city like this was some kind of Third World dictatorship. All to attack a local landmark, and very famous heroine.

Which, in his opinion, had to be the height of stupidly anyway. He had toured that place once, and actually met the Possibles. Whoever had declared war on them, for whatever their reason, had to be insane.

Billy Sanchez glanced back at his employer, still listening to his own phone, and then slowly hung up.

"I just heard from someone in D.C., sir. They seem to think this is connected to some kind of military operation."

"What kind of operation involves the greatest Constitutional breach in years," the governor demanded.

"Nothing definite, sir, but this could be related to the earlier hunt for Shego," the aide replied as he pocketed his own phone.

"Shego? That woman is so passé, it's not even funny! How can an over-the-hill felon justify…..?"

"They suspect she has some kind of bomb, or something, apparently stolen from a top secret lab," the aide went on. "Or that was what my contact was getting from the Pentagon."

"The Pentagon," the governor groaned. "Damn it, those assholes are always trouble!"

The aide didn't reply.

In the same instant, Governor Jordan focused on the phone, and scowled.

"No, I will not call back," he all but howled.

An instant later, he did throw his phone, shattering the receiver on the wall.

"Have the car brought around. We're going to City Hall, and holding a press conference," the governor told Billy. "There's more than one way to do things in politics," he seethed.

"Sir?"

"If they won't answer the phone, I'll just make them call me back," he said with a cold smile.

Billy Sanchez shuttered.

His boss could be ruthless when it came to his office. It was how he got elected. It was how he stayed in power. He had little doubt it was how he intended to survive whatever madness had started this entire fiasco.

Still, Shego? After all these years? And why would Team Possible be defending her from the army?

He had to admit, he was pretty curious himself.

**KP**

"I just hacked their communications," Jim told Kim and Betty. "Looks like they're arguing over calling in jets."

"Jets," Dr. Director exclaimed. "That man cannot actually be thinking of bombing us," she exclaimed.

"From what I'm seeing, they can't even hold martial law very well. They're having trouble dispersing the crowd growing out there. Let alone your number one fan girl," Tim sniggered, indicating a monitor where a groomed blonde reporter was haranguing a very harried young lieutenant.

"I doubt that officer is very versed in taking over domestic soil," Dr. Director spat. "The captain out there, though, is regular army, and isn't going to be off-balance long in spite of your robot," she told Kim. "Any other surprises we can use?"

"Actually, I'm counting on your people," Kim told her.

"While this is an unusual situation," the woman told her, her single eye glittering. "I can't actually go to war with the army for you, Kimberly," she sputtered. "The best we can hope for now is….."

"You're not thinking ahead. Have you heard from your insertion teams in Montana?"

She scowled anew.

"No."

"No," Kim nodded. "Because either they didn't find anything, or they did."

"That made no sense," Shego complained.

"Actually, it does," Dr. Director said, glancing her way. "If they didn't find anything, then they're still looking. Only if they already knew of Radon Industries, then the odds are they did, and were intercepted before they could report."

"Which means that is where we go next," Kim nodded firmly.

"We," Jim and Tim both echoed.

"Well, this will involve some timing….."

"The first time we go on vacation in years," Ann sighed as she walked into the HQ just then, James trailing behind her. "And you end up fighting the army? Boys, what have we said….?"

"It wasn't us," the twins sputtered.

"Not this time," Tim clarified. "It was Kim!"

"Of course, it was, and…. Is that Shego," Ann sputtered, staring at the woman sitting there looking confused as she eyed Ann.

"Long story short, she thinks she's me. But a me from years ago, mom. The army did something to her, and now they're trying to get her back. And shut us all up."

"Well, they're not doing a very good job of it," James grumbled. "Although, in my day, if you wanted to shut someone up….."

"Honey, not now. Kim, explain. And what were you talking about when I heard you say you were…. Is that the boys' armor out there fighting the army," she gasped.

"That's Kim operating it," Jim grinned gleefully. "Not us."

"Kimberly Anne!"

"Mom, they were trying to storm the building, and intended to….. Just sit, and listen," Kim huffed. "To her," she pointed at Dr. Director. "I'm busy," she said, focusing on the monitors again as she moved to stop the soldiers trying to exploit her apparent distraction when the DED Armor went momentarily quiet.

"What about your plan," Tim asked.

"Yes, what about your plan," Dr. Director asked. "Explanations can wait until we have a suitable plan of action, because my people will be getting here soon, and I'd rather not end up escalating this madness."

"It's simple. Your people distract the army while Shego, the Tweebs, and I all bail."

"You," the boys, and her parents exclaimed.

"Wade," she called, and the young man was there again. "You about ready?"

"The Mark V is loaded, and ready," he told them. "You just need a viable window."

"Where…..?"

"We're going to Radon," Kim said firmly, cutting off Dr. Director. "While you distract these guys, we sneak out the back door, and get there while everyone is focused here. Hopefully, we can get there, find our answers, and fix Shego before anyone is the wiser."

"And if they are," Ann asked grimly.

"Then, we still follow the plan. Just….with a little more effort. Which is why I'm bringing the boys, and leaving the armor here to make everyone think I'm still here."

"Are you sure…..?"

"Just what is the range on this thing, Tim," Kim asked, even as the armor on the monitors now moved to stand like a sentinel before the Possible building once the soldiers fell back again.

"With our satellite," Jim grinned. "You could operate it from anywhere in the world."

"But…."

"Right now, that may be our best plan," Dr. Director cut off Ann now as James continued to study the monitors himself.

"You know, with the proper amplitude, we could use the speaker array, and hit them with a blast of sound that just put them all to sleep," James suggested to the twins.

"We were thinking about that. But even at low power, it could burst a lot eardrums," Tim pointed out.

"Well, far be it from me to advocate unnecessary injury, but….."

"Do it," Dr. Director demanded. "But keep the range close. We don't want to hit the crowd," she added. "They are, after all, still on your side."

"No big," the boys grinned.

"That will make our getaway easier."

"That's what I'm thinking," Dr. Director nodded. "And it will also buy us all more time."

"Still, I'm not sure Kim should go….."

"I have to, mom. Shego needs my help. Besides, the boys will be with me, so I won't actually be fighting."

"And we'll still have Shego. Even if she does think she's Kimbo," Jim beamed.

"I'll bet she can still kick butt like nobody's business," Tim concluded.

Dr. Director glanced back at Shego.

"She did break out of a top secret, military research lab. And evade capture to reach us here," the head of Global Justice pointed out.

"Point taken," the older redhead sighed as she eyed the woman that glanced around them, obviously still confused.

"And when you find whatever did this," Dr. Director told the twins. "Make sure you destroy it completely once you're restored Shego. That is one lesson we learned the hard way. Lipski's work is just too dangerous to leave lying around."

"God, yes," Kim muttered.

"Lipski?"

"Drakken," Kim told Shego. "His real name is Drew Lipski."

"That sounds….stupid," Shego sniggered.

"Oh, he is," Jim chortled. "He still….."

"Later, boys," Ann said. "Let's try to diffuse this insanity so we can get things back to normal. Before someone suggests we move again."

"I don't know," James murmured. "I rather liked the idea that one fellow gave us."

"He wanted us to move to the moon!"

James only smiled at his wife.

Ann only groaned.

"Cheer up, mom. This one wasn't even our fault. So the neighbors can't blame it on us," Kim told her.

"That is not helping just now," Ann muttered sourly.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," James told her. "I'm sure we can finish our vacation later."

Ann only sighed again.

"Ready for sonic cloak," Tim declared.

"We think," Jim added.

"Let's find out," Tim grinned.

"Hoo-shaa!"

Shego noted even Dr. Director tensed slightly when the one teen pressed a button.

**KP**

"Mr. President," Eugene stood up from his desk when the man himself walked into his office.

Apparently, ignoring the silenced phone had not helped keep people from his door while he had tried to shut down Middleton, and bring a quick end to this fiasco before things got too far out of control.

Or, at least, not much further.

"General," the obviously recently wakened Leader of the Free World snarled. "You want to tell me why I'm suddenly being woke up, and getting reports of a military coup in the middle of my own damn country at two in the morning? Because I'm not happy, mister. Not happy at all."

"Sir, I can explain."

"You'd damn well better. I just had to watch that pretentious sycophant that calls himself a governor holding an impromptu press conference that….."

"General, we've got a problem," a soldier rushed into the office just behind the President, and stopped belatedly when he realized the general wasn't alone.

"Well, go on," the President ordered.

"Uhm, sir….. Sir," the soldier looked from one to the other, obviously unsure how to proceed.

"Just spit it out," General Hardgrave ordered.

"Right, sir," the man snapped to attention. "Sir, we have a report from Middleton. Somehow, most of our unit was….incapacitated. Possibly killed."

"The entire unit," Eugene Hardgrave rasped.

"You're telling me you lost an entire Guard unit…?"

"Not just them," the soldier reported. "We had an infantry unit embedded with the local Guard, and….."

"It's true? You sent regular army against American citizens?"

The general cringed at the politician's obvious fury.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was trying to keep a very large piece of your predecessors blunder from tearing us a new one! Literally," Eugene roared back now.

"What?"

"That will be all. But keep me advised on what's going on out there. And find out if those men are really dead, or if this more hysteria from those media clowns," he added, gesturing for the soldier to leave with a very grim look in his eyes.

"Go on," the President demanded when the door closed again.

"Have you ever heard of Project Janus?"

"Isn't that the two-faced guy in myth?"

Eugene groaned.

"It was a special project in military research from quite a few years ago. One that went very wrong. Spectacularly so. It began with a clever idea….."

"We all know how those go," the President grumbled.

"Indeed, sir," Eugene sat back down, gesturing toward another chair for him to take. He didn't miss that the Man remained standing.

"Tell me everything."

**KP**

"You okay," Kim asked Shego as they sat in the back of the apparent minivan.

Only it was a minivan with wings, and rockets under the undercarriage that were currently carrying them north at speeds most fighter pilots could only dream of when they flew.

In the front, the twins were operating controls that belied the apparent origin of the seemingly innocuous vehicle, and carrying on a conversation in their own private code as they kept in contract with Wade.

When the sonic cloak knocked out everyone in an quarter mile circle around the Team Possible building, Kim argued over who was going to go with Shego back to the Radon Industries building she had escaped from. The boys were obvious.

Her own presence less so.

"I may not be the girl I was," she told her stubborn father, "But I'm far from ending up in a rocking chair!"

"So far," her mother grimaced, eyeing her cane.

"Mom. Someone was messing with Shego's head, using my memories. You can see where I would take this personally," she had stated, and that ended it.

Because even her mother knew that tone.

They loaded up, taking off in the cloaked van even as Will Du flew out with Dr. Mangle, and Dr. Director, hopefully diffusing any more conflict when the military woke up.

Meanwhile, they had left Middleton looking like a war zone, and a great many national media stars showing up to join the growing circus as James and Anne were left behind to hold down their proverbial fort.

Now, close to Montana already, she noted Shego was looking more and more anxious again.

"You really think mom…. I mean….. Ann will be okay? I mean….."

"Mom might surprise you," Kim smiled at her, patting one clenched fist held on her thigh. "It's after the memories you have, but she even went out me on a few missions over the years."

"No," Shego gasped. "Now you are kidding me!"

"No. Mom can kick butt, when she's motivated. Trust me, there are people who do not want to see her get motivated."

Shego only shook her head.

"I still can't help but feel….."

"I can only imagine. It was bad enough when Ron and I switched places that time. The fallout over that one still makes me cringe sometimes," she sighed.

"I don't recall…..Drakken being too upset…..about….."

"Drakken was always a nut. He wouldn't know normal if you force-fed him ethics and morality."

"No argument. At least, not yet," Shego said quietly. "Only, what I recall about…..Shego…."

"Again, trust me. You came a long way after this one, too. You might like your…..thrills, but you always helped when it counted. And you even helped me save the world a time, or too. Mostly to spite your brother, I think," she grinned.

"Brother?"

"Hego? Big, blue, and not always very smart."

"I…..don't seem to remember…. I have a brother?"

"Brothers. Four of them."

"Four. Are they….villains, too?"

"Heroes. Team Go? You used to be part of them before you parted ways. Over a fight with Hego, as I understand it. He's the….controlling type."

"Oh," Shego murmured.

"Approaching Butte, and we coming in cloaked. "I think our best option is the roof. No one will expect us to be going for the basement from the roof."

"True," Kim nodded at Tim. "Do we have extra grapples?"

"Always," Jim chortled from behind the wheel.

"That's…..a grapple," Shego frowned, seeing Tim pull out a small, watch-like band with a raised center.

"We've upgraded a lot over the years," Kim told her, and put the extra band on her left arm. "See this? Press the stud to activate, when you're ready, bend your hand down, and the grapple fires. We've got reinforced titanium-weave for line, and over five-hundred feet in the band. So, no breaking, and no worries about most average heights."

"And the grapple hook? It's….in this?"

"Standard, pneumatic-driven diamond tipped hooks. It will make its own anchor point as needed," Tim grinned.

"The boys did do a great job helping improve my old grapple," Kim smiled. "I just don't get to use it too much any more," she sighed.

"Just remember. We're point on this mission, Kim. The folks will kill us if you rush in, and get hurt."

"I'm not exactly helpless just because my hip and leg are still a little messed up," she grumbled.

"Remember the deal," Jim cut her off, his tone flat now.

"Fine. Fine. I'll let you go first, and crawl after you," she grumbled archly.

Shego couldn't help but snigger.

All three Possibles eyed her, and Shego only scowled.

"What?"

"You almost sounded like yourself for a minute there," Kim grinned. "I'd say that proves that part of what Mangle said is accurate. You're still in there."

"Yeah," Tim smirked. "You just…..forgot yourself after that overwrite."

"I really hate mind-control," Kim scowled.

"So do I," Shego huffed.

"I know," Kim nodded. "You always did."

"We're coming in over the roof. Gear check now, and let's get ready," Jim said as the minivan slowed, and hovered over a city that didn't even realize they were there.

Which was the way they intended to keep it for what lay ahead of them.

_To Be Continued…._


	8. Chapter 8

_I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Stranger In The Mirror**

**By LJ58**

**8**

"The army is starting to wake up," James Possible noted as he turned to see his wife bringing them fresh coffee.

"Hands off those buttons, James. We can't keep putting them to sleep, or we'll never get this thing over with," she warned him when he sipped from the cup he had taken while eyeing some of the consoles before him.

"It would make things a lot simpler until someone gets back with some actual answers. So far, all we know is that ridiculous fable Dr. Mangle was telling us."

"Fable," Ann frowned.

"Sweetheart, I've been in special research for years. Trust me, that little mind-swap isn't really worth the Pentagon getting involved in a major Constitutional breach by sending the regular army after her on our own soil. Something else is going on, and it's obviously something big enough that they would try to keep us all quiet even after Shego apparently being asleep all these years."

Ann frowned at that as she eyed her own mug, then belatedly took a long sip.

"Do you know what I think?"

"What is that," Ann asked her often eccentric husband.

"I think, whatever they did to Shego was probably only one stage in an overall plan that someone probably made too complicated to succeed. So when it obviously, and inevitably failed, they tried to bury it. Completely. Only Shego proved more….."

"She always was a handful," she said, walking over to eye the monitor that drew James' attention.

"That reporter lady is getting bold. She's actually checking the officers' pockets now."

Ann watched the woman gesturing to her cameraman as she moved cautiously around the unconscious men, having apparently figured out no one else was falling asleep now in the past few hours. The Guard was staying back, but many of those soldiers hit by the sonic cloak were starting to stir.

"She's going to be in trouble if they wake up, and find her checking their orders," Ann remarked.

"Hey, switch the monitor to the local news. Looks like she's saying something," James pointed out as the woman retreated a few steps, but only to make a sweeping gesture as she held up a paper she was apparently reading from just then.

"….Middleton is ground zero for some kind of biological weapon of mass destruction the army has apparently lost control of," the woman was saying. "I have in my hand, orders from a General Hardgrave, and he apparently ordered them to retake the weapon, and kill anyone that knew about it. You have it here from us, CHTR News, that the Pentagon, and the United States Army, is apparently now building secret WMD's, and loosing them. This is….."

"Give me that, woman," the captain who staggered wearily over her just then to snatch the official document she had taken. "Arrest her. I want that camera….."

"We're live, Captain Eisling, so the whole world is seeing this," Lisa Todd smiled charmingly. "So is there anything you'd like to say to the country, and Middleton in particular?"

"You are in a great deal of trouble, young lady," he scowled, and turned, and walked off to bark at his regular soldiers.

"I don't think he's given up," James murmured as men ran to the downed helicopters, and began to pull off small missiles from their brackets.

"James…..?"

"Looks like it's round two," James smiled almost boyishly, and started to tap a few buttons on a panel Ann knew quite well.

"Are you sure that's a good idea," she asked, even as a laser turret targeted the missiles, and neatly sliced them all in half.

The men on-screen howled, the bisected weapons falling from their hands, and they turned and bolted for cover as more of the turrets began to turn, bisecting any heavy weapon, or missile left outside the apartment building.

Ann Possible sighed, and shook her head.

"We're never going to live this one down. I just know the neighbors are going to be blaming us again."

"Don't worry, sweetheart," James smiled back at her. "Remember, we made the whole structure modular, so we can move without any trouble this time."

"That wasn't what I was worried about," the redheaded neurosurgeon growled at him.

**KP**

"You…..don't know," Dr. Director asked the President himself over a video-conference as she tried to put things in perspective, and diffuse a potentially dangerous showdown.

Because even she knew the twins only worked for Team Possible out of family loyalty. But if anyone was going to be targeting them in earnest, she suspected those boys would repay anyone tenfold. If they were feeling merciful.

God help them all if they weren't.

"Elizabeth, I only just heard of this…..Janus project, and I'm still not sure what was involved, but I've been assured that…."

"You're being stonewalled, sir. With all due respect, Janus was apparently a black ops of some kind that someone chose to bury, and bury deep. Only it's out, and there is no one left that can tell us what the big picture was about at the time. At least, that I can find. I suspect that Hardgrave has enough data to tell us the truth, but he's more interested in burying it again, along with anyone that finds out about it."

"Yes, I…..just saw the news feed out of Middleton. I've already sent a direct order for all military forces to stand down, and retreat."

"That's all well-and-good, sir," Dr. Director went on. "But we need more information if we're going to completely diffuse this…"

"Am I wrong, or is Global Justice trying to get involved with a national matter here," the President suddenly asked after someone off-screen obviously whispered something to him.

"Mr. President. I was personally present in the Team Possible headquarters when the military tried to attack us. I was personally present when your men ordered Team Possible to surrender Shego, and themselves, into suspect custody. This after we had already gotten word that General Hardgrave intended to scorch earth, and bury anyone involved with this project. Literally."

"Now, I'm sure that….."

"You can tell Eugene that Dr. Mangle is currently in our protective custody. He's already told us a lot. Experimenting on private civilians? Using illegal, and suspect tech for equally suspect activities? Should I go on? I'm sure the press in Middleton would enjoy interviewing us."

The President grimaced, and Dr. Director heard a low curse off-screen.

"Let me get back to you," the man said, looking very uncomfortable as the screen went dark.

"He knows?"

"Or he's been told just enough to conscript his cooperation," Betty nodded at Will.

Will Du had just come from securing William Mangle in a private room, under guard, just to keep him in place, and alive.

"Did the good doctor give us anything else?"

"No. He was involved only in the memory overwrite. Then dismissed soon after when he tried to point out the inevitable failure of the technology they were using," Will reported.

"Typical. Someone knows something, though. Or they have a report. Dig deeper. Call Wade, if you must. Find out what Janus' end game was really about. Or we may yet be facing more trouble than just a confused Shego."

"You don't think she might…..self-destruct, as Mangle theorized?"

"Shego?"

Dr. Director leaned back in her chair, and steepled her fingers before her.

"I've known Shego from the start," she admitted. "Do you know that? A more stubborn, and willful woman you will never find."

She caught his skeptical glance.

"Well, next to Kimberly."

He only grunted at that statement.

"That said, Shego is unique in her mutation. While her brothers seemed to be physically enhanced by their exposure to that comet. She was literally infused with the energies that exploded over them that day. Infused with a plasma power that could potentially rend this planet if she could harness it just so. So, if there is the slightest chance she could…..lose control, we can't risk it. Only I don't deem it a true likelihood."

"So, you doubt she will?"

"Recall, willful, and stubborn. Whatever else, Shego isn't the type to just lose control. Not to anyone, or anything. Not even the powers that have defined her for most of her life."

"I see. And, if there is a chance….?"

"I'll put her down myself. Only that's why I left her with the Possibles. If anyone can help her. And find out the truth. It's going to be them."

"The Pentagon isn't going to like them nosing into covert operations."

"Which is why I'm here, making all the noise I can."

"You're distracting them?"

"Precisely. So, in five minutes, get me Secretary Karter, and the President. That should give the President time to leak the news we have Mangle. Then, once we're conferencing, call General Hardgrave, too. I think it's time to poke the hornets, and see who flinches first," she said somberly, her single eye glittering coolly.

Agent Du nodded, and glanced at his watch.

"Five minutes. And in the meanwhile?"

Betty smiled coolly as ever.

"Contact every human rights group you can think of, and advise them of the constitutional violations going on in Middleton. Especially the Libertarians, and anti-government fringes. I think a little more heated public interference might just work in our favor."

"Clever," he nodded, and pulled out his own communications device.

Dr. Director said nothing as he quickly made the calls to the appropriate offices, insuring they stirred up the issue all the more as several of those that answered were immediately outraged over the news they only then intercepted after being clued into the recent events.

Betty only sat in her chair, waiting, and planning.

**KP**

"Does anybody find it strange that we're not seeing anybody," Tim asked as he and Jim led the way into the elevator that they easily found with Shego-Kim's help.

They had descended from the roof in the air shafts, making their way unseen to the hidden lift, and then opening the panel after Shego pointed out where it was hidden. They eyed the lift with the two single buttons, up, and down, and then pressed down.

Still, while they had been moving discreetly, the entire building seemed deserted.

Which didn't seem likely on a weekday at this hour.

"They're waiting on us," Shego murmured uneasily, shifting restlessly as she glanced around.

"Maybe we should….."

"Use the suits. Go stealth," Jim advised.

"Maybe we should wait on the top…..?"

"No," Tim said as Shego looked up at the access hatch she had used before in her escape.

"But…."

"It's possible they already anticipated our coming, and if anyone knows anything about our usual tactics, they'd use it to trap us," Jim said, nodding at his twin.

"But the air ducts," Kim began.

"What better way to lure us into relaxing, than to let us deliver ourselves right to where they want us," Jim pointed out.

"I really hate the way that actually makes sense," Shego said with a shudder.

"Going stealth," Kim said, and tapped a button on her wrist.

The twins had already vanished.

"What about me," Shego hissed.

"They expect you. It'd look wrong if the car were completely empty. Let's see what happens, and we'll cover you," Tim told her.

"Don't worry, Shego," Kim said, putting an unseen hand on her shoulder. "We've got your back."

"Got…..my back," she murmured. "You know, this really seems wrong without Ron….. I mean….."

"He's busy. He has a lot on his plate these days," Kim told her. "But I kind of wish he were here, too. His monkey-power can be a real bonus at times."

"Monkey-power," she frowned. "You mentioned that before. So, he's not…..a goof any more?"

"Ronald," Jim and Tim chuckled as they waited for the lift to stop. "He's a major player these days. When his wife isn't beating him up."

"His…..wife?"

"Monique. Remember her?"

"I…?"

The lift stopped with a faint jerk, and the doors slid open.

"Curiouser and curiouser," Kim murmured quietly as they looked down the long, empty hall.

"Definitely a trap," Jim murmured quietly.

"Let's go spring it," Kim said from where she stood.

"Shego first. We'll bracket her. _You_ bring up the rear."

"Man," Kim groaned in complaint.

"You know the deal," Tim reminded her.

Kim only snorted, but Shego still felt alone when she stepped out of the lift, and into the long hall she had last seen lined with soldiers.

Armed soldiers, all trying to shoot her.

"Keep going," Tim whispered to her. "My scanner has a read on some serious energy usage to the right at the end of the hall. I'm guessing that's where we find our answers."

"Or your trap," she murmured just as softly as he spoke.

"Was there ever any doubt," Jim quipped.

"Tweebs, not the time," Kim retorted quietly.

Shego resisted the urge to look around, seeking the voice. She kept her head straight, her eyes focused down the hall. She reached the end, and saw the still warped steel panel that opened into her cell. She resisted a shudder, remembering all too well the time she had spent there, and now knowing it had been both shorter, and longer than she had realized.

Or was that the other way around?

She had to focus.

She wasn't Kim. Not the real Kim.

But she wasn't really Shego, either.

Only what really made up someone's identity? Was it just the body? Just the mind? What made anyone who, or what they were?

She was no philosopher. She only knew that somewhere, deep in her own confused, muddled heart, she loathed anyone that would do something like this to her.

"Your right," Jim whispered to her, tapping a panel.

Even as he did, she realized he had done more than tap.

Another hidden panel was sliding back now, opening, and she was staring into a huge, cavernous chamber filled with electronics. At the heart of it, was a glassy coffin half-filled with pale blue liquid. It was connected with leads and wires, and the machines around it were still beeping, blinking, and chirping.

Shego took a step into the room, and looked around.

"This…..looks…..familiar."

"It should, fraulein," a man with a graying beard sneered as he walked around the glassy coffin. "It should."

Then something struck her in the chest, and her world turned to agony.

_To Be Continued…_


	9. Chapter 9

_I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Stranger In The Mirror**

**By LJ58**

**9**

Her name was Shego.

Once, the best thief around, and likely one of the top five most dangerous people in the world. She liked to think the top spot in that short list was hers.

Just then, she was rage incarnate.

One moment, still confused as to her own mind and memories, she had followed the apparently real Kim Possible, and her brothers, down into the heart of a lair where her life might just have been stolen. If not worse.

An instant later, she was screaming in agony as something surged through her, and turned every cell in her body into a conductor.

Then the current just stopped, and suddenly she felt more like she was living fire in the heart of an inferno, and she was sucking in all the energy around her, stoking a flame that couldn't be contained, and she was glowing…..

Green.

"Not good," an invisible witness said as the man holding the small taser was knocked flat, and his weapon went flying.

"No duh," twin voices declared as Tim Possible reappeared just behind the fallen man. "For one, I thought Demented here was smart enough to keep avoiding us. Like forever."

Kim reappeared, her eyes locked on the glowing, green figure on her knees, hands clenched, eyes closed tightly as she screamed at whatever filled her head just then.

"I was talking about Shego. What if she doesn't remember how to control her bio-plasma, Tweebs? Although, I am very curious as to why Dementor is here, too."

"I suggest stopping Shego, tying up the loon, and then figuring out the puzzle," Jim declared even as he approached the fallen man in more typical lab coat as he pulled out his own version of a flex-tie.

"Agreed," Tim nodded, and Kim limped over to stand before Shego, eyes dark with worry.

"Shego! Shego, it's okay! You're still safe…!"

The eyes flared opened, shimmering green orbs all but radiating energy as she looked without seeing as she put one foot under her. Then the other.

For a second, she only stood there, seemingly unseeing, but the screaming now dropping to a low, ominous growl.

Then, her lips parted as the green fire around her seemed to fade slightly, flaring here and there, and then Shego growled in earnest.

"_I'll kill them all_," she roared, and charged forward toward Professor Dementor.

**KP**

"You can tell me, or you can tell a world court," Dr. Director told the five men on her split screen monitors as she eyed them.

"We already know at least one of you is directly involved," Will Du declared bluntly, not one of them realizing he was bluffing. If only to a degree. "We have found enough of the paper trail to lead to quite a few doors. Now, some of those doors have been closed, obviously. Permanently, it would seem, by one of those involved here."

"However," Dr. Director went on, looking pointedly at Hardgrave before glancing to the President again. "We all know that in our world, secrets don't always keep. Not forever. Especially when you involve…..certain people. I am interested primarily in containing this madness, as I am sure you are, but if you want a circus, gentlemen, she scowled, "You will find I can, and will make a very competent ringmaster."

General Hardgrave swore under his breath, but the reaction was still noted by the experienced agent.

"Tell her," Secretary Karter swore. "Hell, maybe she can help."

"I'm not sure…."

"Tell her, man, before that thing gets loose on our planet!"

Dr. Director eyed the President again, and noted he was addressing Hardgrave, too.

"As we suspected, you are the inside man. Why else bother trying to kill Mangle. As you eliminated all those involved in the now defunct project?"

"Not everyone. One man escaped me."

"Who," Dr. Director demanded.

"I suspect I know," Will Du told her. "And it bodes ill for all of us."

"Start from the beginning," Dr. Director snapped, eyeing Eugene Hardgrave now. "Or this will be tomorrow's headline, rather than your _insane_ attack on Middleton."

The general eyed her, then glanced around, obviously studying the other monitors.

"You can't silence everyone," Will Du spoke first as if reading his mind. "Not in this world. By now, you do realize that _Team Possible_ is directly involved. When they are, we all know that discretion is not always a byword with them. They do tend to scorch earth at times," he added almost as if amused.

"God help us," Secretary Karter moaned.

"I am the last legitimate officer involved with the original project. I was only a colonel back then. I followed orders, just like everyone else," Eugene began grimly, and more than a little stiffly.

Betty wondered why every military madman she had ever met, or heard of, all used that same, tired defense.

"Define the project," Dr. Director demanded. "Why bother trying to reprogram Shego as….you did?"

"As she was, we projected Shego would return to crime inside of six months even after her….pardon. We decided to forestall the inevitable, and utilize a rare opportunity to counterattack a proven enemy."

Betty said nothing to that, but she had a niggling sense of something genuinely stupid rearing its head.

"We were studying the bodies of the Lorwardians, and felt that if we could use their genetics in a host, a host we could control, we could send them to Lorwardia, and undermine whatever regime launched that attack on our world. Now, obviously we couldn't just trust Shego to fall in line," the general sighed.

"The obvious rejoinder here would be pointless," Will murmured to his superior, his eyes rolling.

"However, neither could we truly trust Miss Possible. For all we knew, she had been compromised by her own contact with both the felon, and the…..creatures."

"Good God," Betty exclaimed, slapping a hand on the desk before her in her conference room. "Are you still that idiotic?"

"No. We realize, now, that Miss Possible is not one to compromise herself. Or be compromised. Ever. The men in charge at the time, however, were not so confident. They brought in a think-tank to make sure our host would not only coöperate, but do exactly what she was told. Hence, attempting to place tailored memories from Possible into Shego, an ultimate weapon's body."

"Did you pick the wrong women," Will remarked.

"Agent Du."

"Sorry, ma'am," he remarked without much penitence. "I just felt it had to be said."

"Obviously," Hardgrave nodded. "Mangle warned them. As he reminded me recently. Things began to go wrong from the start. Shego kept rejecting the Lorwardian genetics."

Betty merely nodded, prompting him to go on.

"We eventually brought in a new man to oversee the hybridization. Only we had to go outside the box. We had to approach…..Henchco."

"So, it was DeMenz," Dr. Director grimaced.

"Heinrich DeMenz is an unparalleled genius in such things. He devised a means to ensure the host didn't reject the alien genes, but then we hit another snag. To ensure the implanted genes worked, the host had to be placed in perfect, genetic suspension during the procedure. It seemed to be working, but then we realized the implanted memories, and subsequent attempts to control the new personality we hoped to create wasn't working. At all."

"She tried to escape," Betty realized.

"She tried to escape. After the fifth attempt, my superiors chose to bury her, and the project. We put her back in suspension, but this time, closed down everything. She was still too valuable at the time to kill, but too dangerous to leave free. So she was….packed away. To be honest, I all but forgot about her myself."

Dr. Director swore.

"You idiots are lucky. You could have prompted a genuine world war. Didn't you realize we had already brokered a peace deal with the Lorwardian envoy that came to retrieve their dead a few years after the invaders fell?"

"We….didn't know. Obviously, we were kept out of the loop," Hardgrave grimaced.

"My God," the President rasped. "All of this because my paranoid predecessors were trying to play war games with whole planets?"

"Suddenly, the jokes about military intelligence make a lot of sense, don't they," Will drawled.

"William," Betty growled.

"Sorry, ma'am. In my defense, you did assign me to watch Possible, and one cannot help but….pick up a few things."

"Indeed," General Hardgrave eyed her.

"What now," the President asked.

Dr. Director only eyed him.

"I think he means, how do you think you can handle this, Director," Eugene quipped.

"Oh, I know what he means. I just don't think you understand the bigger picture."

"No? With all due respect, I likely still understand more than….."

"You obviously also worked out a deal with Henchco to watch the lab, using your own troops to guard the actual lab when it became obvious Shego had woken up, and almost broke free again. You were waiting to see if you could still salvage that project, which is why you kept her incarcerated, rather than sanctioning her as you did all surviving members of the think-tank," Dr. Director informed him. "However, you overlooked three things. Yes, definitely three."

"Do you think so?"

"I know so. First, by brokering any deal with Henchco, you obviously tipped off DeMenz that the project host is still around, and viable. God only knows what he may try."

The general frowned at that.

"Second, you overlook the very pointed truth that involving Team Possible, as my agent pointed out, guarantees a very large…..mess before we're through."

The politicians all grimaced at that.

"But, third? Third was your biggest mistake yet."

"And what is that?"

"Shego. She will survive. It's what she does. And you don't want that woman after you when she decides someone needs…..spanked."

The politicians looked horrified now. General Hardgrave only looked bored.

"We caught, and held her before. I doubt…."

"With all due respect, sir, I wager you caught her on a bad day. And used her own honor against her. She was trying to live a quiet life at the time, before she….vanished," Will Du reminded him. "I suspect she was waiting for someone to remember that. Now? Well, I wouldn't bet on your chances. The woman is infamous for her temper."

"Worse than infamous," Dr. Director nodded her agreement.

Now, the general looked uneasy.

"And you don't think we should just shut her down?"

"Have you ever tried to shoot her, General Hardgrave? I have," Will told him.

"Can't be done," Dr. Director went on.

"Energy weapons," Secretary Karter asked.

"Only fuel her," Will answered blandly.

"Gas?"

Dr. Director turned to the unamed politico that likely advised the President.

"You mistake me. You can attack her. You can hit her. Knock her down. Knock her out. She always gets up. Always. Her healing factor is a closely guarded secret, just to keep people from trying stupid gambits, like this absurd project that was doomed to failure from the start."

"But….."

"General, with all due respect, I've known Team Go from the start. I personally worked with them before I reached top spot in Global Justice. I knew them, and know them, likely better than they know themselves. Especially Shego, who we all had great hopes for at the time. You cannot kill her. You can hurt her, slow her down, but the only way to beat her is to face her one-on-one, and pummel her harder than she can you before she knocks you down. In my experience, only two people ever managed that. Only two."

"Team Possible," Secretary Karter realized.

"Now, guess who is backing Shego, who by now, is already subconsciously burning out whatever you did to her as she has always done to any attempt to alter her already mutated comet-powered systems?"

"You're saying?"

"I did say I know Shego? By now, she's figuring out who she is, what happened, and is asking herself just one question."

"One," the President asked.

"One," Dr. Director nodded. "'Who do I blame?'"

"You don't want to be in the answer," Will Du declared as blandly as ever.

General Hardgrave finally looked ill. Especially when he looked behind him as someone arrived to whisper in his ear.

"Oh, and General Hardgrave. There is also the matter of a ranking commanding officer brokering deals with an essentially criminal agency? Not to mention illegal, and unethical experimentation on living human beings," Dr. Director added. "Collusion, conspiracy, and potentially treason have to be considered, too."

"Treason," Hardgrave sputtered.

"Did you, or did you not follow orders to attempt to back a project intended solely to attack another planet. A by-then neutral power?"

"Now, you might think I'm being spiteful," Dr. Director said quietly, her expression carefully composed. "But, consider, gentlemen. Do you want to do this the right way? Or the painful way. The right way is to step into the light, let those that….deserve it, face their punishment, and go from there, letting your legal system…..do its usual inept song-and-dance. The painful way is I go home, have a nice cup of tea, and wait for the coroner's reports on whoever Shego targets as responsible."

"Surely she wouldn't…..?"

"I just received a message," General Hardgrave cut off the President. "Someone broke into the old laboratory where Shego was held. We lost contact with the entire complex. No one is answering. We don't know what is happening out there."

"Then, it won't be long. Especially since Shego is working with Team Possible, since you all but ensured Kim Possible would be taking this one personally."

"We did not….!"

"You used her own memories to alter Shego. You then all but chased Shego right to her door. Before attacking her hometown. Do you really think someone like the Kimberly I know will just shrug this one off?"

"But….wasn't she injured," Secretary Karter asked uneasily.

"You are overlooking _Team_ Possible. Not that Kim herself accepts limits on herself even now," Will grumbled with a fair bit of emotion this time. "The woman literally doesn't know when to quit."

Betty only smirked this time at his obviously knowing comments.

"We're in your hands, Dr. Director. What do you suggest?"

"Mr. President," Secretary Karter, and two of his Aides sputtered.

"Zip it," the man spat. "Ma'am?"

"First, you arrest General Hardgrave. Oh, and I'd get your AG on investigating Rodan Industries immediately. They are the Henchco front that the general has been employing."

The President looked ill again.

"Let me put it this way, sir," Dr. Director smiled. "You can look strong, fair, and tough on even your own. Or, you can wait for Shego. Now, I have been up almost twenty-seven hours, and was almost shelled myself when your general's troops attacked Team Possible's HQ. So forgive me if I'm a little brusque, but….. Goodnight."

Will gave a faint salute, and then the monitors went dark.

"Think they're going to do as you suggested?"

"They will if they're smart. Either way, I want six…. _Nine_ strike teams ready, and two will move now to surround, and monitor Radon, Industries."

"Understood. The others?"

"One will reinforce the secret service at the White House. Just in case. The others will move on all Radon strongholds, and use this opportunity to get in, and sift their data and resources the moment that the President announces the investigation. If we get a direct link to Jack, and Henchco, we may finally put them all out of business."

"You think he will call for the investigation," Will asked as she turned back to her computer to start working.

"I know he will. Self-preservation remains the hallmark of any political figure," she quipped.

"Weren't you going home," he asked, arching a single brow as she set to opening certain files, and rechecking certain information.

"Twenty-seven hours," she huffed. "I'm not even getting started. Have Amy bring me fresh coffee, get those strike teams briefed, and prepped, and then get me eyes inside that facility. Move it, Du. This isn't over yet," she told him.

Will moved.

_To Be Continued…_


	10. Chapter 10

_I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Stranger In The Mirror**

**By LJ58**

**10**

For just the slightest tick of a second, the green-skinned woman seemed to just stand there clad in rumpled sweats that were charring, and burning away as her body flamed from within, seemingly unseeing, but the screaming now dropping to a low, ominous rumbling sound from deep in her throat.

Then, her lips parted as the green fire around her seemed to fade slightly, flaring here and there, and then Shego growled in earnest.

"_I'll kill them all_," she roared, and charged forward.

Slamming face-first into the boy's combined security shields.

"Let me have him," she screeched at them, banging on the invisible walls around the once self-aggrandized Professor Dementor who had been hiding for some time. "You don't know what he did to me! What he was going to do…..!"

"Sounds like you're back to yourself," a quieter voice murmured from behind her as a small hand risked reaching out to touch her.

Shego spun around, fists raised, and glared.

"Princess," she almost growled again.

"Sounds like her," Jim declared.

"Sure acts like her," Tim added, though neither was dropping their shields.

"Listen to me? Please?"

Shego glared, but finally sighed, and nodded.

"Do you really want to come back like that? Tearing apart an unconscious man?"

"He's not a man, he's…"

"Yeah?"

"I'm thinking," Shego snipped. "What's worse than a slimy, backstabbing, cowardly toad?"

"I could think of a few things," Kim nodded. "Trust me, I'd love to see you barbeque this freak myself. Or worse."

"Then why…..?"

"Shego, you can't know how I would love to tear him apart myself. Trust me, I understand. But we can't stoop to his level," Kim told her.

Shego just glared at her now, her clenched fists now the only part of her body wreathed in her distinctive plasma energies.

"So, you're going to trust him to the courts? The same ones that always did such a great job with people like us in the first place," Shego demanded in a seething voice.

"Oh, no," Kim smiled. "No nice, cushy cell, and soft life for the Professor," she said with more than a hint of malice in her tone that belied her smile as she eyed the fallen man Tim was now trussing up in a very snug fashion. "Not this time."

The lanky teen had first bound the man's hands and feet with his special flex-ties. Then he wrapped those ties in thick layers of duct tape. After that, he put a band of tape around the man's thick waist to keep his arms bound behind him even if managed to somehow free his hands.

"So, which did you decide," Jim asked, only then dropping their shields. "I know you have been planning this one for years. How do we make him suffer," the twin asked with an expression that made even Shego wonder about him.

"I have thought about it. And I decided I'd give him one last chance to reform."

"Kimmie," Shego growled again.

"Operation Fly-Trap," she told the boys.

"No big," Tim said, and pulled a device that looked like a small TV remote from his belt's equipment pouches. "Can't wait to watch his reception."

"Reception," Shego frowned as a sickly, yellow beam shown over the captive man, and he began to shrink.

"What are you planning on doing with the freak," Shego asked, now visibly calming as the last traces of her plasma faded away by then. "Because no way is getting off light this time," she swore, eyeing Kim, then looking back at the rapidly shrinking poser.

"Trust me," Kim smiled. "DeMenz is about to learn all about Karma," she told her. "Now, calm down. You okay? Do you….still think you're me?"

"What? Hell, no," Shego sputtered. "I can't believe…. I mean, what they were doing…."

"Tell us," Jim and Tim said as one as Tim carefully picked up the unconscious felon the size of an ant with a pair of tweezers, and dropped him into a glass tube he secured in his equipment belt.

Shego scowled, then shook her head.

"First, let's make sure nothing is left that can be used on me, or Kimmie, again. Nothing."

"Oh, we can take care of that," the twins smiled coolly, and Tim now pulled out a small, black box the size of a matchbox.

"Boys, we need to download any important files, first, and make sure there is nothing else in the works that might come back to bite us," Kim reminded them. "And I want to make sure that digital brain of mine is gone, too."

"Consider it done," Jim declared.

"All of it," Tim nodded, and plugged the apparent matchbox into the nearest console.

The computers, and machines around them all began to switch on, humming with life, and the small box chirped only a few seconds later.

"We have everything they had," Jim nodded to Kim as Shego simply eyed them. "Deleting their files now."

Shego only scowled as she watched the pair work, and an instant later, Tim pulled the box from the computer as the machines all went dark in the same instant.

"Done," the twins gave a curt nod to the two women.

"Then that just leaves the freaks that tried to play me," Shego growled. "After I make sure you do punish Dementor…."

"We will," Kim told her firmly, holding tightly to her cane, her face looking pale just then.

"Overdid it again," Tim sighed.

"Need the hover disk," Jim asked.

Shego turned, and frowned at Kim.

"Okay, what's with the….? Wait. Princess, are you hurt? What happened to you?"

"You don't remember….? What do you remember, Shego," Kim asked.

"I….."

She paused, looked around, then eyed the twins.

"Let's just say I suddenly have no clue how I got here, or why the twin terrors there are so old. They are your brothers? Right?"

"Yep," the twins grinned. "And we should be going. Now."

"I've learned to listen to them," Kim told her. "Come on, we'll talk on the way. It looks like you burning out the last of my digitized memories left you without any recent memories."

"When you say recent…..?"

"Talk later. Move now. It's not over yet," Tim reminded them.

Shego followed, but kept glancing at Kim, and taking note of the cane she leaned on.

"Just tell me I saw you shrink that freak Dementor. _That_ wasn't a dream, was it?"

"You remember that?"

"I remember starting to get knocked out, and then….. Then Dementor was there, and you guys…..popped in. What the hell is going on here," Shego demanded.

"Shego, what's the date?"

"What kind of question is…."

"Date," Jim and Tim echoed Kim's question.

Shego told them.

"No," Kim said, limping after her with a grim expression. "That was over six years ago."

"Six…..years," Shego frowned.

"Let's get back to the transport, and we'll talk on the way back."

"Back where?"

"Our place," Kim told her. "Don't worry, you'll be safe there."

"_I'll_ be safe," Shego sputtered.

Kim nodded as they headed up the hall for a still open elevator.

"You have a lot to catch up on, Shego. Don't worry, though. You're with friends."

"Friends," Shego said, giving her an odd look.

"We're going stealth again. Just in case. Don't worry, we're right beside you," the twins told Shego. "We'll be your ace in the hole if someone tries to stop us. Kim, you, too. Just in case."

"Hey….!"

Shego stopped, and looked around, but all three Possibles had just vanished.

"We're here," Kim told her, one hand on her shoulder. "Now, back to the lift, and we'll get to the roof, and get you out of here."

"Someone had better have one damn good explanation," Shego grumbled as she headed for the open doors. "Because all I remember is….."

"Shego," Kim asked, her voice still close as the green-skinned woman froze, and stared at herself as best she could.

"I just realized," Shego sputtered, holding up her hands, and eyeing the charred sweats she wore. "What the hell am I wearing."

"Part of that long story," Kim chortled. "Let's go. We don't want to get cut off now."

Shego couldn't argue with that one.

She loped for the open lift, and considered bolting, just in case, but even as she paused, someone else pushed the floor button, and the lift began to move.

"You weren't going to leave us behind, were you," a snide Possible tone asked.

"Yeah. Even Kim's not that slow, even with her injuries."

"About that? What the hell happened? No way could anyone I know hurt you that bad, Princess. Who….?"

"Dementor suckered me on a solo mission," Kim admitted. "My last mission, technically. He almost killed me. We've been looking for him since. Only this is the first time any of us have seen him in some time. I suspect something big was up for him to risk coming out of the dark like this."

"We'll find out. We do have their whole database," Jim crowed.

"Well, I can tell you part of it," Shego told them as she glanced around the seemingly empty car.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Dementor, and some other eggheads were trying to put alien DNA in me. They thought it would make me stronger. Tougher. I don't know the endgame, but I got the feeling some mind-control was involved," she spat in disgust.

She didn't know the three Possibles shared a look via their IFR visors.

"You could say that. So, someone in the military wanted a super-amped, mind-controlled Shego," Kim frowned unseen.

"Bio-weapon," both twins said as one.

"Likely," Kim agreed. "But that implies they had a specific target. I'd like to know who, or what it was if they only….shelved the project, and Shego, for so long."

"Good questions," Jim pointed out.

"Don't worry," Tim said as the elevator stopped, and the doors opened. "We'll find out."

"This way," Kim said, an unseen hand tugging at her sleeve as they left the car.

They didn't see anyone as they came out into the hall, but stayed quiet all the same. Shego stopped when Kim stopped her, and Kim reappeared to point up.

"Oh, you are kidding me," Shego growled, eyeing the open grating over an air duct.

"Fastest way in, or out. Some things don't change," Kim grinned at her now before leaping up by using her good leg to boost her high enough to grab the duct.

"Apparently not," Shego muttered.

"Go on. We're right behind you," Jim told her.

Shego glanced around, the twins still invisible, and muttered, "That's what I'm afraid of," with cool ire.

**KP**

"Have you heard the news yet," Will Du asked as he walked into Dr. Director's office holding several files.

Betty yawned, reaching for the fresh cup of coffee recently filled, and lifted it.

"What now," she asked.

"It seems the President moved swiftly on your….suggestions last night after it was reported that Kim Possible had returned to Middleton, and has holed up again with her family. And Shego."

"Our teams haven't reported in?"

"They're in place, but they never saw the boys arrive, or depart. Guess they went for discretion this time."

"Has anyone gotten inside?"

"No. But no one is reporting any movement, either. They have kept the usual workers out, though. Just in case."

"Send in a sweep team now. Full armor, and eyes open. I want to know what is under that building, and yesterday. If Possible is already out, there's a good chance they already have anything of value, but let's not take chances," Dr. Director ordered him.

"Understood. The news," he went on. "The President has named Hardgrave personally responsible for the orders to activate regular army troops on U.S. soil to take down Shego for undisclosed reasons. He's being stripped of his rank, and courtmartialed without delay."

"That might be credible enough to calm down those involved. All the same, the senior commanders on the field still hold some culpability in this. I don't see them getting out of it that easily," Betty surmised. "Especially when the Henchco angle is inevitably exposed."

"The President hasn't mentioned that one as yet," Will admitted.

"If he doesn't, I will. Anything from Team Possible?"

"No, but the local governor, and the Middleton mayor are both demanding a full Congressional oversight committee to investigate the situation," Will nodded. "I'll just go get those orders passed on now. With luck, we'll have this one settled within the day."

Dr. Director looked doubtful, but set her nearly empty mug back down to eye the steady stream of reports still coming in.

"Keep me informed."

"Shouldn't you get some rest now that….."

"Not until we know everything is settled. Everything," Betty told him. "The last time I relaxed too soon, Possible ended up blindsided by Dementor, and we already lost her. That won't happen again. Not again," Betty stated curtly.

"Well, on the positive side, she did survive. And Dementor has been running scared since."

"Yet someone claimed he was involved in this project. So where is he, Will," Dr. Director asked.

"I….."

"Don't you think it behooves us to find out? Soon?"

"I'll get on it myself," Will nodded.

Betty just waved him out as she opened the new reports he had brought her.

**KP**

Shego watched as the truly tiny Dementor was dropped into a covered dome that was, in fact, a sealed bio-sphere the boys had created.

The, to them, four foot wide specimen tray, was actually a penal farm of sorts that the Possible boys had created when they took displeasure in the rotating doors at the usual Federal Pens where most super-villains and major felons were barely contained. If at all.

Kim explained that so far they only had six occupants. The worst of the worst that refused any hint of rehabilitation.

At their size, they had no choice but to remain in place, since escape was not only next to impossible, it could be lethal at their size. Especially as only her brothers could restore them to size. The occupants were shrunk down, forced to work, and work together, for their survival, or they got very hungry.

It rarely took long for the newest members of their 'farm' to learn that rule.

As she saw Dementor confronted by the six prisoners on a monitor to better watch them, she smirked as the biggest of the lot, a burly brute that called himself Bulldozer for his insanely amped strength, and nearly impenetrable skin thanks to Jack Hench's science, walked up to confront him.

Bulldozer had been the boy's first prisoner.

The six-six felon had quickly established himself as leader of the motley group, and ensured they all worked. The labor on the genuine working farmstead was easiest for him, but he ensured everyone pitched in. As he eyed the smaller man dropped into their bio-sphere, the burly, bald man merely smirked coldly.

"Oh, should we have pointed out that Bulldozer hates Dementor," Kim smiled less than innocently. She then lowered her voice to speak to them, conscious of their size as she used the single opening in the dome to declared, "Okay, guys, break's over. Bull," she called him, "Fill in the Professor, and put him to work. Remember, we're still watching you. Keep up the good work, and you might even earn parole yet."

Shego eyed the dome, the layout of the farm that was mostly fields with real crops growing at a diminutive size, and the single barracks to one side, with three smaller buildings obviously used for tools, or whatever.

"Suddenly, I'm very glad you guys weren't around while Doc and I were working. Speaking of which, what happened to…..?"

"He's actually trying to adapt his mad science to help the world these days. Sometimes, he even gets something right."

"Okay. So, what now," Shego asked. "Because it occurs to me that I'm sitting here with a six year hole in my freaking head, and still don't know what's really going on, Kimmie," she grumbled.

"Come with me," Kim nodded, and turned to leave the lab where the 'Farm' was kept.

Shego grumbled, but followed her.

"Dare I hope you are taking me to some decent clothes?"

Kim chuckled.

"Well, I did think you'd like to clean up," she said, and led her to the lift that carried them back up to the living quarters in the actual apartment building above the ground.

"You sure this is safe. The last time we were here…."

"The army has always been shooed," Kim grinned over her shoulder. "Trust me, right now, they have more to worry about than us. Dr. Director is now reminding them why attacking her, or us, is a very bad idea."

"Damn," Shego frowned. "So, Cyclops is actually standing up for me? Never thought that would ever happen," the green-skinned woman frowned as Kim led her out of the lift, and into her own apartment. Then out into the hall.

"In here," Kim told her, unlocking a door.

"Is this….?"

Kim gestured. "Your room."

"My….? My room," she frowned, eyeing the apartment that was decorated in greens and black, with an occasional splash of white.

"Remember Miss Go," Kim smiled now.

Shego groaned.

"You left quite a lot behind when you took off that day. Part of me always hoped you would come back. Or visit. I did get the feeling that we were…..friends at the end," Kim told her.

"Wait. Wait. You sit up this entire place on the chance…..?"

"Your clothes are in the closet, and the bath is furnished with the things you favor. I kept it cleaned myself, so all you have to do is move in," Kim smiled. "Although mom made sure everything was ready for you while we were on our way back."

"Why would you….?"

"Three reasons, Shego," Kim cut her off.

"Uh, okay."

"One, I still help people that need help. Let's face it, right now, you need help."

Shego started to scowl.

"Two, remember, you do have a six year gap in your memories now. We need to find out exactly where they end, and catch you up. Now, who else do you know that is going to be willing do that without just shoving you in another cell? In spite of the fact you were technically pardoned years ago," she cut her off when Shego started to protest.

"Okay. Okay, fair enough," Shego grumbled as she eyed the apartment, and found it….tolerable. "Third?"

"Third is the best reason of all. You're my friend, and I'm not going to leave you when you need me most," Kim smiled at her.

Shego just stared.

"Friends? Us? You think…..?"

"Tell me I'm wrong," Kim demanded, and walked over to stand in front of her. "Besides, Drew told me the real reason you ran away."

"Drew….told you," Shego now looked pale again.

"You don't have to run anymore, Shego," Kim told her. "I'm not forcing anything here, but….if you do want to be friends, or more, we can figure it out together. Besides, you're safe here. You have my word."

Shego swallowed hard, and looked at the redhead.

"I always knew you were…..something. But now…."

"Yes," Kim asked.

"Okay. Okay. For now. But I still owe some eggheads some serious….."

Kim put a finger over her lips.

"The only man still alive from that project is DeMenz. I'd say he's taken care of already. Wouldn't you?"

Shego chortled, remembering the squat man's face as he was dropped in front of the bigger men in that lab farm.

"What the hell," she said. "This could be fun. So, where's the shower," she demanded.

"Right this way," Kim lead her. "And, Shego?"

"Yeah," the other woman asked, eyeing the place as Kim led her through it.

"Welcome home," she grinned.

Shego found she didn't have a word to say to that one.

_End…?_


End file.
